Storm Center is a 1956 American dramatic film starring Bette Davis and directed by Daniel Taradash. The screenplay by Taradash and Elick Moll focuses on the controversial subjects of communism and censorship.

Alicia Hull is a widowed small-town librarian dedicated to introducing children to the joy of reading. In exchange for fulfilling her request for a children's wing, the city council asks her to withdraw the book The Communist Dream from the library's collection. When she refuses to comply with their demand, she is fired and branded as a subversive. Freddie Slater, a boy with a deep love of books whom Alicia has closely mentored, is especially upset about her dismissal.

Judge Robert Ellerbe feels that Alicia has been treated unfairly and calls a town meeting, hoping to rally support for her. However, ambitious attorney and aspiring politician Paul Duncan, who is dating assistant librarian Martha Lockridge, reveals Alicia's past associations with organizations that were discovered to be communist fronts. Alicia claims that she resigned from the groups as soon as she learned of their true nature, but because of Duncan's incendiary revelations, only a few people attend the meeting. Those who do attend express concern about being branded communists themselves if they stand with Alicia. Upon hearing their concerns, Alicia informs the meeting that she no longer wishes to fight the city council and wants to drop the matter. With no opposition to her removal mounted, most of the town eventually turns against Alicia.

Freddie, convinced by the opinions of others, particularly his narrow-minded father, that Alicia is a bad person, becomes fearful of books themselves. In his rage and frustration, he sets fire to the library. His actions cause the residents to have a change of heart, and they ask Alicia to return and supervise the construction of a new building. Alicia agrees, lamenting her earlier decision not to fight and vowing never again to allow a book to be removed from the library.

In 1951, it was announced that Mary Pickford would return to the screen after an 18-year absence in The Library, produced by Stanley Kramer and directed by Irving Reis. The following year, she withdrew from the project, a month before filming was scheduled to begin, reportedly because it was not a Technicolor production. Within days, Kramer signed Barbara Stanwyck to replace her, but Stanwyck's scheduling conflicts repeatedly delayed the start of filming. Kramer eventually withdrew from the project, and it remained in limbo until Taradash decided to direct it himself with the new title of Storm Center. It is the only film that Taradash directed.

While the events in the film are largely fictional, the character of Alicia is based on Ruth W. Brown, a Bartlesville, Oklahoma librarian who struggled with the county commission over communist literature.

Although set in New England, the film was shot on location in Santa Rosa, California.

The film features an early poster and title sequence created by noted graphic designer Saul Bass. The opening title sequence features flames that eat away at both the face of a boy and pages from a book. The two pages shown are actually duplicates of a single page from Chapter 2 of John Stuart Mill's 1859 essay "On Liberty".