IMDb RATING
7.2/10
4.8K
YOUR RATING
The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder.The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder.The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder.
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
4.8K
YOUR RATING
- Richard Murphy(screenplay)
- Fulton Oursler(based upon an article published in The Reader's Digest December, 1945)
- Stars
- Richard Murphy(screenplay)
- Fulton Oursler(based upon an article published in The Reader's Digest December, 1945)
- Stars
Rollin Bauer
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Royal Beal
- Johnson - Police Ballistics Expert
- (uncredited)
Wyrley Birch
- Father George A. Lambert
- (uncredited)
Robin Bryant
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Helen Carew
- Annie
- (uncredited)
John Carmody
- Thomas Callahan - Witness
- (uncredited)
William Challee
- Whitney - Harvey's Assistant
- (uncredited)
Clay Clement
- Judge Tate
- (uncredited)
- Richard Murphy(screenplay)
- Fulton Oursler(based upon an article published in The Reader's Digest December, 1945)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPlaywright Arthur Miller is the tall suspect in the line-up. He was close to director Elia Kazan, who would two years later direct Miller's "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway. For the play, Kazan plucked this film's Lee J. Cobb to play Willy Loman, and for his son Biff, Arthur Kennedy.
- GoofsThe accused was apprehended in Ohio and extradited to Connecticut. According to the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, the following must occur for extradition to proceed, (1) A valid arrest warrant issued by the demanding state, (2) A request from the Executive Authority of the demanding state (typically the Governor), (3) A judicial hearing in the state having custody of the wanted person. Yet in this case while the minimum for establishing sufficient probable cause for the issuance of an arrest warrant (the man being held in Ohio meeting the general physical description of the Connecticut murderer, who had been in Bridgeport on that date, and possessed a .32 caliber handgun) had been established, the accused, who had made no attempt to conceal his whereabouts on the date of the murder to Ohio authorities, did not even know why he was being held after extradition back to CT.
- Quotes
[Camera close-up on an open book]: The primary duty of a lawyer exercising the office of public prosecutor is not to convict, but to see that justice is done. -The Lawyers' Code of Ethics.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits are listed in the form of pages of a book.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Doogie Howser, M.D.: Presumed Guilty (1991)
- SoundtracksAmerica, the Beautiful
(uncredited)
Music by Samuel A. Ward
Played during the opening sequence and at the end
Review
Featured review
Cameo Alert - Arthur Miller
This is a pretty good, taut, realistic, gritty film-noirish film from the camera lens of Elia Kazan. Kazan gives us the story of a Connetticut district attorney bumping the legal establishment in Hartford by NOT railroading a suspect who he knows to be innocent despite exhausting pressures to prosecute from local elected officials, businessmen, police, etc... The film, as previously noted, has a semi-documentary feel to it - all due to Kazan's expertise behind the camera. Whilst the story certainly is engaging, the acting is all high-level here with Dana Andrews doing a fine job as Henry L. Harvey the attorney faced with an ethical dilemma. Andrews acting range is not too wide but he delivers here and is more than ably assisted by men(and women) like Ed Begley as a businessman gone bad, Jane Wyatt as his lovely wife(Andrews's wife that is),Arthur Kennedy as the suspect with seemingly little to say, and a couple of Kazan would-be regulars - Lee J. Cobb doing a phenomenal job as a decent yet hard-headed police chief and Karl Malden as a police detective. Kazan shows us the story from many angles and has the benefit of having a real story as the basis of his film. We see the angles of different political opponents, a jealous/crazy girlfriend, local people who saw the crime of a priest being shot, and the journalists who try to scare up any angle they can. Some scenes are quite jarring like the confession scene. Arthur Miller, the great American playwright is seen briefly in a scene of suspects being lined-up. He was Kazan's close friend.
helpful•170
- BaronBl00d
- Dec 6, 2009
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Box office
- 1 hour 28 minutes
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