The Male Animal

The account is set at a university. The school is called Midwestern. The board has forced three teachers out. The reason is a suspicion that they are communists. Tommy Turner is next. Turner is a mild man who teaches English. He plans to read a text in class. It is the sort of text that will cause argument. The trustee Ed Keller warns him. His wife Ellen also tells him not to read it. That is what upsets Turner most. In the same days it is homecoming week at the school. Ellen’s old boyfriend Joe Ferguson comes to visit. The man is a former football player. Turner is afraid of losing his wife. Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland take the leads in Elliott Nugent’s American film of 1942.