Nation Aflame

Avenging Angels mete out punishment to foreigners and all others who don't live up to their leaders' notions of "100 percent Americanism."

The secret lodge has been formed by con men planning to get rich via initiation fees, dues and the sale of their sinister robes. Unstoppable because of the nation's mood in the depths of the Depression, the pistol-packing, lash-wielding night riders exploit religious intolerance and prejudice against aliens. With members of the hate group winning elected seats in state houses, it seems certain that an Avenging Angel in the Oval Office cannot be far behind.

Nation Aflame's story was torn from true-life headlines about the Black Legion, a midnight riding Ku Klux Klan splinter group with tens of thousands of members. Produced by the Halperin Brothers (White Zombie) and co-written by minister Thomas Dixon Jr. (author of the source novel for D.W. Griffith's controversial The Birth of a Nation), it places America's fate in the hands of a courageous girl who is willing to sacrifice her own life to destroy the "Avenging Angels."

• drama