UNITED STATES STEEL HOUR, THE: NOON ON DOOMSDAY (TV)

Summary

One in this anthology series presented by U.S. Steel. In this story, set in present-day New England, a small town celebrates as a jury returns after a brief deliberation and declares one townsperson, John Kattrell, not guilty of a murder charge. Outside of the courthouse, elderly Frank Grinstead, whose son Rodney served as defense counsel, confronts the judge about the unfairness of the verdict, feeling that John, a drunken troublemaker, was allowed off despite the facts of the case because of the town's bias and "loyalty" towards their own citizens. At the same time, New York reporter Lanier, who has been in town covering the case, talks with an old man who explains that condemning John, whose family has long lived in the town, would have seemed like "eating their young" to the jurors. Lanier, however, points out that John is a "menace" who is likely to harm another person in the future.

Frank returns home and scolds Rodney for defending John, stating that he himself left the small down decades previously because of its narrow-minded views and aversion to change, returning only because Rodney himself came back after law school. He suggests that the victim was unfairly maligned because he was foreign and therefore an "outsider," but Rodney declares that he is not ashamed of having done his job properly and intends to attend the following day's Founders' Day celebration all the same. That night, John continues celebrating at the local bar as Lanier talks with the bartender, who defends John's rash actions in shooting the old man by explaining that John's own father was harsh and unkind. John, aware of the reporter's disdain for him, soon confronts Lanier, and two of the townsfolk attack him outside of the bar despite John's claim of not wanting to harm a "cripple." When Lanier defiantly reenters the bar, John taunts him with a knife, telling him to leave town.

A tipsy Lanier then visits Felicia, daughter of the murdered man, seeking her "sympathy." He is angered by the ongoing celebrations outside, feeling that someone should properly mourn the dead man, and he soon falls into a drunken slumber in Felicia's home. Upon awakening, the two discuss her father, with Felicia explaining that he was simply a lonely stranger who "wanted to be liked," and he urges her to attend the next day's town celebration and "point a finger" at the guilty man and at those who supported him. Felicia counters that Lanier too has a responsibility to defend his fellow human being, and Lanier laments his own cowardice, admitting that he feels unable to "fight back like a man." Elsewhere, Rodney finds an extremely drunk John at the bar, and John soon turns violent again, ranting about his sense of hatred for others and implying that he intentionally killed the old man out of displaced rage, not in a momentary passion. Frank, observing this, tells Rodney that John and the rest of the town are now grappling with a hidden sense of guilt, but Rodney again defends his own actions by saying that he simply chose to "run with the pack." Disturbed, Frank informs his son that he intends to make a stand at the Founders' Day event, prepared to face any response from the town.

On the following day, everyone is startled when Felicia silently arrives in the midst of the festivities, and Frank speaks out, shaming the town for supporting John when he is so clearly guilty of a cruel act. He tells them that they are merely using the case as a "symbol of their defiance" against the outside world, adding that John is often drunk and violent, including on the night in question, when he damaged the old man's store and shot him when the man tried to ward him off. Furious to be called a "monster," John loses his temper and attacks Frank, and Lanier intervenes to defend him, allowing John to take the knife and challenging him to prove Frank right by harming yet another innocent person. John angrily declares that everyone else in the town would have acted as he did and killed the old man on the spot, but far from agreeing, the townspeople leave in silence, clearly shamed by Frank's words. Frank calmly tells John that he now "lives in a desert" and urges a shaken Rodney to move on with his life as best he can. Stunned to find himself abandoned, John tries to offered a belated apology, but the elderly man tells him that it is too late. Includes commercials for United States Steel products.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: April 25, 1956 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:59:20
• COLOR/B&W: B&W
• CATALOG ID: B:02010
• GENRE: Drama
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Trials (murder); Morality
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1953-1955; CBS - 1955-1963
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV - Commercials - United States Steel steel products
  • TV - Promos - "Broken Arrow"
  • TV - Promos - "The United States Steel Hour"

CREDITS

• Daniel Petrie … Director
• Rod Serling … Writer
• Everett Sloane … Cast, Frank Grinstead
• Jack Warden … Cast, Lanier
• Lois Smith … Cast, Felicia Chinik
• Albert Salmi … Cast, John Kattrell
• Philip Abbott … Cast, Rodney Grinstead
• Frank Overton … Cast, Steve
• Edgar Stehli … Cast, Old Man
• Truman Smith … Cast, Judge
• Marshall Jamison … Executive Producer