After watching the excellent movie, Capote, I decided to see this movie which is based on the book that Harper Lee was writing while Capote was gathering information on the story about a killings in Kansas . . . which ultimately led to his writing of IN COLD BLOOD. Harper Lee accompanied Capote to Kansas at that time. http://movieandtvreviewsforgrownups.blogspot.com/search?q=capote
The first thing that struck me about To Kill A Mockingbird was the difference from today in cinematography, character development, emotion and music that accompanied the film. It was of a different era. 50 year has made a big difference in movie making. See the STORY OF FILM. http://movieandtvreviewsforgrownups.blogspot.com/search?q=THE+STORY+OF+FILM.
But MOCKINGBIRD was good for it's time . . . at the beginning of the 60's when real racial conflicts were just starting in the United States.
Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, played by Gregory Peck. (Who I think always played the same part in all his films). Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout. I understand that the book that the film was based on was written for young adolescents. The end of the trial is predicable, considering the times (1930's). To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.
Unfortunately, catastrophes like wars create human situations unlike any other. From these wars comes books and stories that are sometimes hard to believe. This movie is based on a true story of Jewish women that infiltrates the Gestapo for the Dutch resistance movement. Set in the fall of 1944, in Holland, it includes people who sell out others for money. 
