Right or Wrong? (Making Moral Decisions) – 1956
This sober little slice of postwar moral instruction asks a deceptively simple question: what is the right thing to do?
When a warehouse window is smashed and a teenage boy is picked up by police, the story becomes less about vandalism and more about loyalty, responsibility, and the quiet pressure of authority. The watchman makes a decision. The mother makes a decision. The warehouse owner makes a decision. The police sergeant makes a decision. And Harry must decide whether protecting his friends is more important than telling the truth.
The film insists it will not judge. That is your job.
Shot in classic 1940s educational style, with restrained performances, modest interiors, and a narrator who sounds absolutely certain that moral clarity is within reach, the production feels like a civic lesson wrapped in a police procedural. It is earnest. It is deliberate. It believes deeply in discussion.
Today, it plays as both a time capsule of mid-century ethics and a fascinating look at how communities once framed questions of right and wrong. No easy answers. Just a projector humming in a dark classroom and the suggestion that character is something you choose.
You decide.
