Trial (1955)

Courtroom drama set in 1947 and underlying post-WW2 acute problems facing the USA such as stormy race relations and the growing threat of local communism.

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Don Mankiewicz (as Don M. Mankiewicz), Don Mankiewicz (novel) (as Don M. Mankiewicz)

Stars:

Glenn Ford, Dorothy McGuire, Arthur Kennedy

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

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

Storyline

The story of a murder trial where a Mexican boy is accused of the death of a Caucasian girl. The two-faced attorney (Arthur Kennedy) who takes the boy's case is only interested in defending him so he can exploit his Communist-backed organization for their own underhanded purposes. He and his organization bring in an idealistic law professor (Glenn Ford) who agrees to represent the boy in court.

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Plot Keywords:

deception | courtroom | law professor | race relations | trial | 

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Taglines:

Tense! Timely! Thrilling!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

7 October 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Trial

Filming Locations:

Shrine Auditorium - 665 W. Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,341,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 109 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film did well at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $518,000 ($4.79M in 2017) according to studio records.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the film, the "Private Beach" sign is obviously being illuminated by a hidden light, and not by the match the guy strikes on it.

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Quotes

David Blake: You agree with Barney, don't you? I'll win because I have such an honest, confused face the jury's gonna feel sorry for me.
Abbe Nyle: No.
David Blake: Yes.
Abbe Nyle: Because you believe in Angel, and in this...
[looks down at his cigarette lighter, which has an inscription in Latin]
Abbe Nyle: "UBI INJURIA, IBI REMEDIUM" - Where there's a wrong, there's a remedy. You really do believe in that, don't you?
David Blake: Sure I believe in it. I couldn't teach...
[corrects himself]
David Blake: I couldn't practice law if I didn't.
Abbe Nyle: Lawyers hang it on their office walls ...

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Alternate Versions

Also shown in computer colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in MGM Parade: Episode #1.2 (1955)

User Reviews

A Pathological Case

This film fascinates precisely BECAUSE of its confused treatment of the theme of bigotry. It does not only refer, under a thin disguise of name, to Senator McCarthy - but also to the Ku Klux Klan. To me, its chief value is that it illustrates rather startlingly the ethical strangeness of a mid-fifties America apparently seeking a definition of justice while still beset with considerable self-doubt concerning its own institutions.

Few films of the period make so explicit the names of the antagonists; that is what sets it apart.

On the level of pure melodrama, it is entertaining, fast-paced and convincingly acted. The opening scene suggests an erotically-charged no man's land, namely the beach community of San Juno, anno 1947. This is the scene that I think will remain in my memory, because it precedes all the rhetoric, legalistic and otherwise, which never quite connects with the reality of spontaneous behaviour - simply, groping in the dark.