Judge Priest

(1934)

80 minutes.

Directed by John Ford

Cast: Will Rogers, Tom Brown, Anita Louise, Henry B. Walthall, Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel

Film / Comedy / Drama / Romance

Billy Priest, a proud Confederate Civil War veteran, serves the community in his rural home town as district judge in 1890's Kentucky with common sense and humanity. Priest deals with everyone from the Daughters of the Confedracy to former slaves with humor and the same lack of pretension. His sister-in-law objects to his nephew Jerome's interest in Ellie May Gillespie, a pretty young girl whose pedigree is unclear. When the mysterious loner Bob Gillis becomes involved in a stabbing incident involving the honor of Ellie May, Priest is asked by a rival to excuse himself from presiding at the trial.