HYBRID PROGRAM: IN-PERSON AND STREAMING ONLINE

No Way Out (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950, 106min.)

Christopher Llewellyn Reed, chair, film & moving image department, Stevenson University

As the Red Scare swept the nation in the aftermath of World War II, liberal-minded filmmakers found very few progressive topics they could cover without causing suspicion about their political loyalties. One area that appeared relatively safe was racism and other prejudices. In the same year he wrote and directed the Oscar-winning All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz released No Way Out, starring a young Sidney Poitier in his first credited film role. Playing a brand-new doctor integrated into a heretofore segregated hospital ward, Poitier confronts the virulent hatred of a racist criminal played by Richard Widmark. Screen legends Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, newly married, also appear here together for the first time on screen. Linda Darnell co-stars. The movie pulls no punches—and features many uses of horrific racial epithets and violence—showcasing the worst side of humanity alongside Poitier’s natural integrity and resolve to take the high road. It’s a remarkable cinematic debut for the actor, and given when it was made, it boggles the mind that a studio would get behind such a raw project. Good thing they did. We pay tribute to this uncharacteristically progressive film as the opening film in our 2023 film series.

ASG’s 2023 Film Series is in collaboration with the Renaissance Institute at Notre Dame of Maryland University

$10 fee for guests (No charge for ASG members, ASG subscribers and RI members)