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Bette Davis in noble/saintly mode, perhaps her least convincing one. I was intrigued by the possibilities inherent in the premise, but the simple-minded script reduces everything to fodder for melodrama--and not even fun melodrama. Except for the pretty library, the whole thing looks and feels like a television show, and a painfully unsubtle one, of sub-par intelligence. Best moment: Davis slapping and shaking the bratty kid.

From seeing this title, I though it was about a meteorologist. It's about a Librarian who refuses to take a controversial book off the shelves. Bette Davis is excellent again. Good drama.

A old librarian plants a Communist book in the town's public library so that the townfolk will suddenly be enlightened by intellectual freedom. Except they shout, "Better dead than Red!" and the movie becomes a melodrama. It's pretty clear early on that this will be a one-note drama; most of the characters seem to spit their lines out through clenched teeth. I wish I could rate this higher for being one of the first librarian-hero movies; there's just too much poison in this well to do so.