***SPOILER ALERT*** Sizzling courtroom thriller involving British barrister Simon Crawford, Ray Milland, on trial for the cold blooded murder of his next door neighbor Justice Gregory, Percy Marmont.
Simon had suffered a total mental breakdown when his 28 year old daughter Joanna,Sandra Fehr, was killed in a hit and run accident just outside his home. Out of the hospital, or sanitarium, and continuing his job as a barrister in the London courts Simon is hit from behind one evening as he's coming home from work. Found lying in the street unconscious by his friend Maj.Hugh Maitland, Geoffrey Lumsden, Simon recovers, with the help of a stiff drink, only to find out that Justice Gregory had been found murdered, stabbed to death, while he was out cold!
Having held Gregory, who's in his 70's and an awful driver, responsible for Joanna's death just before he ended up in the hospital with a mental breakdown Simon was the prime suspect in the old mans murder. The fact that Simon couldn't come up with an alibi since he was out like a light the moment that Gregory was murdered had even him thinking that he may very well have murdered him!
Pleading innocent and opting to stand trial Simon has his top legal aid Sheila Lakin, Sylvia Syms, defend him. As Simon finds himself behind the eight ball in not being able to come up with an alibi in Gregory's murder both Sheila and his top legal consultant Hamish Gillespie, Ewan Roberts, decide to use the defense of diminished capacity to get him off with a thee years sentence in a mental institution instead of serving life in a British prison. Knowing in his heart that he didn't murder Justice Gregory Simon with the help of his young aid Percy, Julian Holloway, uncovers a case back in 1943 that he prosecuted involving a brutal armed robbery that almost cost a man his life! The person convicted of the crime John Logan after his sentencing vowed that he'd murder both Simon and the judge who sentenced him if it's the last thing that he'll ever do! The judge happened to be the very person who Simon is now on trial for murdering: Justice Gregory!
****SPOILERS**** The films spectacular and heart-thumping final ten minutes will leave you out of breath as Simon slowly, after he was just about to throw in the towel, comes to the conclusion who Justice Gregory's killer really is! This has Simon put him on the stand, whom he had earlier dismissed, as a hostile witness for the defense; himself. Exposing a number of inconsistencies in his previous testimony, which was in favor of Simon, it becomes apparent that the man on the stand isn't the man who he says he is. Knowing that the sham that he's been pulling for almost 20 years is quickly coming apart the killer in a last act of desperation not only exposes himself and his murder of Justice Gregory but his fanatical attempt to also do in the very hard hitting, in his cross-examination, Simon Crawford!
Truly great courtroom drama, that's every bit as good as "12 Angry Men", that has never seen the light of day in not being released in the US or, as far as I know, shown on TV until recently. The films star Ray Milland not only directed, very brilliantly, this amazing and totally forgotten movie but was also the star in "Hostile Witness" when it was on Broadway some two years before it's release on film in 1968.
Simon had suffered a total mental breakdown when his 28 year old daughter Joanna,Sandra Fehr, was killed in a hit and run accident just outside his home. Out of the hospital, or sanitarium, and continuing his job as a barrister in the London courts Simon is hit from behind one evening as he's coming home from work. Found lying in the street unconscious by his friend Maj.Hugh Maitland, Geoffrey Lumsden, Simon recovers, with the help of a stiff drink, only to find out that Justice Gregory had been found murdered, stabbed to death, while he was out cold!
Having held Gregory, who's in his 70's and an awful driver, responsible for Joanna's death just before he ended up in the hospital with a mental breakdown Simon was the prime suspect in the old mans murder. The fact that Simon couldn't come up with an alibi since he was out like a light the moment that Gregory was murdered had even him thinking that he may very well have murdered him!
Pleading innocent and opting to stand trial Simon has his top legal aid Sheila Lakin, Sylvia Syms, defend him. As Simon finds himself behind the eight ball in not being able to come up with an alibi in Gregory's murder both Sheila and his top legal consultant Hamish Gillespie, Ewan Roberts, decide to use the defense of diminished capacity to get him off with a thee years sentence in a mental institution instead of serving life in a British prison. Knowing in his heart that he didn't murder Justice Gregory Simon with the help of his young aid Percy, Julian Holloway, uncovers a case back in 1943 that he prosecuted involving a brutal armed robbery that almost cost a man his life! The person convicted of the crime John Logan after his sentencing vowed that he'd murder both Simon and the judge who sentenced him if it's the last thing that he'll ever do! The judge happened to be the very person who Simon is now on trial for murdering: Justice Gregory!
****SPOILERS**** The films spectacular and heart-thumping final ten minutes will leave you out of breath as Simon slowly, after he was just about to throw in the towel, comes to the conclusion who Justice Gregory's killer really is! This has Simon put him on the stand, whom he had earlier dismissed, as a hostile witness for the defense; himself. Exposing a number of inconsistencies in his previous testimony, which was in favor of Simon, it becomes apparent that the man on the stand isn't the man who he says he is. Knowing that the sham that he's been pulling for almost 20 years is quickly coming apart the killer in a last act of desperation not only exposes himself and his murder of Justice Gregory but his fanatical attempt to also do in the very hard hitting, in his cross-examination, Simon Crawford!
Truly great courtroom drama, that's every bit as good as "12 Angry Men", that has never seen the light of day in not being released in the US or, as far as I know, shown on TV until recently. The films star Ray Milland not only directed, very brilliantly, this amazing and totally forgotten movie but was also the star in "Hostile Witness" when it was on Broadway some two years before it's release on film in 1968.