Carbine Williams

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Carbine Williams

Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Produced by	Armand Deutsch
Written by	Art Cohn
Starring	James Stewart
Music by	Conrad Salinger
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Editing by	Newell P. Kimlin
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	May 1952 United States
Running time	92 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Carbine Williams is a 1952 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring James Stewart. The film follows the life of its namesake, David Marshall Williams, who invented the M1 Carbine rifle that was used in World War II while in prison.

The film is a typical Hollywood "miscarriage of justice" theme which continues the Hollywood tradition of not letting the truth getting in the way of a good story. This is a pity in a way because the true story is more remarkable than the film. The real story has so many inspiring facets like the support of his family, both in and out of prison. His story shows how he completely screwed up his early life and it took the extreme harshness of prison life to inspire him to re-invent himself and create a new life which would make his wife and family proud of him.

[edit] Plot

The film follows the life of David Marshall Williams (James Stewart), who invented the semi-automatic M1 Carbine used in World War II. Williams was found distilling illegal moonshine, and he killed a federal officer, before being jailed and later convicted of both crimes. He cycled through the prison system, until a firm, but compassionate warden, H.T. Peoples (Wendell Corey) allowed him to work in a prison tool shop. There he invented the gas system for his famous rifle, and eventually was released from prison in 1929 and worked with Winchester Firearms on development of the M1 Carbine.