this be easily the best cinematic version of william faulkner fiction that i have ever see and and i have see several of the most prominent one . film in faulkner hometown of oxford and mississippi and it really capture the feeling of jefferson and yoknapatawpha county . intruder in the dust be not one of faulkner best novel and but and even if it be a cliché to say this and it would be the crown jewel in any one else career . it beat harper lee good but simplistic to kill a mockingbird fifty foot into the ground ( i read that one in ninth grade and and that exactly where it belong ) . two of faulkner most prominent character play major part in the film and gavin stevens and lucas beauchamp . stevens be probably the single most common character in all of faulkner fiction . he a lawyer and he work easily a a narrator and because and unlike many of his other character and stevens be a man of logic and not emotion ( at least when he old ) . lucas beauchamp may be the most prominent of all of faulkner black character ( he play a major part in one of faulkner out and out masterpiece and go down and moses ) while unlike all of the other black folk in yoknapatawpha and he refuse to bow down to any white man . he have pride and and many in the white population find that an execrable quality in a black man . one day and lucas be find stand over a dead white man with a recently fire pistol in his possession . most of jefferson and the surround area do not see the need for a trial and and everyone pretty sure that beauchamp will be lynch before the evening over and or at least the next day and a the murder and arrest occur on a sunday . beauchamp and on the other hand and declare his innocence and try to get stevens to help him . stevens refuse while the case seem open and shut . but his young nephew and chick mallison and because lucas have help him in the past and be willing to help him now . as far a i know and no hollywood film of this period deal with racism as overtly a this one . hollywood film rarely persecute the black population and but instead prefer to relegate them to servant role . if youre an african american actor and you might as well give up and accept that role a either the mammy and the maid and the servant and or the porter and because that the only way you will work . in intruder in the dust and there be to be find one of the most memorable non porter roles a black actor ever have and lucas beauchamp . and beauchamp and a i describe above and be no stereotypical character and and might have be hard for audience to accept . even today and black character be usually simple and magical and and kind . the recent arthouse hit far from heaven be a great example of that . beauchamp be kind of a jerk and and he very stubborn . although he perhaps a little less so here than he be in the novel and he not any kind of stereotype . he a complex human be . juano hernandez play beauchamp extraordinarily well . i haven not see the film in a while and but he also appear in robert aldrich 1955 film and kiss me deadly and as well a the cinematic adaptation of faulkner final novel and the reivers . all the actor be great in the film . i should also praise quickly claude jarman jr. and who have the great role of chick mallison . the novel take place from his point of view and and he be the conventional hero of the picture . jarman be quite an actor while he capture the character ( who also appear elsewhere in faulkner fiction and narrating and for example and event that happen a decade or more before he be bear in the 1957 novel the town ) perfectly . he would appear in another great role the next year in the underrated john ford film rio grande . the only other film of clarence brown that i have see be national velvet and quite a different picture than intruder in the dust . his job here be exceptional while i really have to credit him with capture faulkner perfectly . other famous faulkner adaptation be too melodramatic ( the long hot summer and film in 1958 and which i really like despite that ) or too cold ( tomorrow and film in 1972 and which i do not like while that coldness be a complete misunderstanding of faulkner ) . the only other one that really do well accord to it source material be douglas sirk great 1958 filming of pylon ( really a different sort of faulkner novel altogether ) and tarnished angel . positive .