Great Black and White Films: To Kill a Mockingbird

It’s hard to summon enough superlatives to describe To Kill a Mockingbird, which I consider one of Hollywood’s greatest achievements. I suppose it would have been difficult to go wrong, considering the book it came from continues to be a huge success. In my opinion, though, the movie transcended the book. The timeless story of a good man standing up for what is right is dynamic on the page, but somehow it becomes even larger on film.

Artfully directed by Robert Mulligan, the movie was filmed on the Universal Studios backlot. But the set didn’t look like yet another fake Hollywood creation. It was made to look like Macomb County, Alabama, with the help of a block of houses scheduled to be destroyed to make way for the Pasadena Freeway. Set decorator Henry Bumstead swooped in just in time and purchased the Craftsman-style houses and moved them to Universal to recreate the specific world that was the South in the 1930s.

In keeping with the perfect set, there was an exemplary cast. Gregory Peck, who embodied the part of the dignified Southern lawyer and father as if he were born to play him, was joined by unknowns Mary Badham and Phillip Althorp as his children Scout and Jem. Also in the mix was Macomb visitor Dill, an odd-looking little boy based on author Harper Lee’s childhood friend, Truman Capote. John Megna’s Dill visits Macomb County during the summer and it’s through his, Scout and Jem’s perspectives that the story unfolds. It is also through their eyes that we’re introduced to the town boogeyman, played by Robert Duvall in his first film role. But Duvall’s Boo Radley isn’t the only supposed monster in town. Collin Wilcox and James Anderson, who wrongly accuse black man Tom Robinson (played by Brock Peters) of rape, are frightening in a much more substantial way.

I know most people wouldn’t consider this a Halloween movie, but for me, the final moments of the film invoke that spirit. I won’t ruin the ending for those who haven’t seen it; I’ll just say that it’s scary in the way that only old-fashioned story-telling can be. There are no special effects; the characters have just been so well developed and are so familiar by the end, you feel like you’re right there with them in Macomb County. You can’t help but sit on the edge of your seat as they move through harrowing circumstances and then find safe haven once again on their faded but cozy Alabama front porch.

View still photos and video from the movie at IMDb.

DVD extras (on two discs)

* Interactive menus

* Scene access

* Cast and crew interview

* Featurette: Fearful Symmetry: The Making of To Kill a Mockingbird

* Featurette: Movie by Gregory Peck’s daughter Cecilia that chronicles both her father’s speaking engagements and his later years

* Audio commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan Pakula

* Original trailer

* Subtitles