Trial (1955)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Don Mankiewicz (novel)
Don Mankiewicz (writer)

Release Date:

7 October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Tense! Timely! Thrilling!

Plot:

The story of a murder trial where a Mexican boy is accused of the death of a Caucasian girl. The two-faced...

Plot Keywords:

Courtroom | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	David Blake
Dorothy McGuire	...	Abbe Nyle
Arthur Kennedy	...	Bernard 'Barney' Castle
John Hodiak	...	District Attorney John J. 'Jack' Armstrong
Katy Jurado	...	Mrs. Consuela Chavez
Rafael Campos	...	Angel Chavez
Juano Hernandez	...	Judge Theodore 'Ted' Motley
Robert Middleton	...	Sheriff A.A. 'Fats' Sanders
John Hoyt	...	Ralph Castillo
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Cap Grant
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Finn - Process Server (as Elisha Cook)
Ann Lee	...	Gail Wiltse
Whit Bissell	...	Sam Wiltse
Richard Gaines	...	Dr. Johannes Albert Schacter
Barry Kelley	...	Jim Brackett

Runtime:

105 min | 109 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Though the film was made in 1955, it takes place in 1947. However, in the scene where Abbe, Barney and David are driving through town after their first visit with Angel in prison, most of the cars visible in the background are 1950s or late 40s models, including brand new 1955 cars seen in an automobile dealership window.

Quotes:

David Blake: I learned a long time ago that when someone says 'decide right now' that that's the time to take your time.

Courtroom drama bites off more than it can chew

An hour and a quarter into Trial, the jury is finally impanelled. Ostensibly a legal drama, the movie casts wide its net, dragging in multi-hued racism, anti-Communism and fellow-travelers, corruption, vigilantism and media justice.

That venerable academy State University won't renew law prof Glenn Ford's contract because he lacks courtroom experience. He signs up with slick lawyer Arthur Kennedy ("Law's a business like any other"), who promptly makes him point man in a high-visibility trial. A Mexican boy has been charged with murder of an underage Anglo girl in a case of statutory rape. Town racists whip up a lynch mob; meanwhile, Kennedy flits across the country to milk cash from a leftist rally for the boy. But, confident that Ford will blow the defense, he's only interested in providing a profitable martyr for the "cause."

Ford faces a thankless task in the courtroom -- and the movie. Always the strong, stoic sufferer, he here plays a dupe, kept in the background, his face curdled into a mask of disdain. (Helpmate Dorothy McGuire, as Kennedy's maverick Girl Friday, shows more passion and intelligence.) His adversary is D.A. John Hodiak, so between them the soggy scenes before the bench fizzle out. Ford's final gallop to the rescue comes too late to neutralize the cynical torpor; the young Mexican proves as much of a pawn in the hands of the moviemakers as in the manipulative attorneys' and officials'.

Trial raises more provocative and timely issues than it can begin to explore, let alone resolve. It's a pity, because those issues still smoulder today, in the America of Court TV spectacles and an ideologically embalmed judiciary.