Classic Black Cinema Series: The Well

A controversial film for 1951, The Well is an emotional, socially-conscious drama. Its theme is community cooperation, despite the fact that it stages one of the most elaborate race riots ever seen on American screens. It has a noir-like tendency toward documentary realism, filling dozens of small roles with non-actors. It sees America as a tinder box waiting to erupt into racial warfare.

In April 1949, Los Angeles TV station KTLA made history with marathon location coverage of a 27-hour effort to free a small girl, Kathy Fiscus, from a narrow abandoned well-shaft in San Marino. The effort to save the young girl is a central storyline of this film.