Great Courtroom Movies - Part 1
Posted on 1 Feb 00:00
Courtroom dramas generally keep movie-goers glued to the screen This article explores some riveting courtroom movies a person would surely enjoy.
Plot: This movie was adapted from Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men teleplay. The film focuses on a murder case. It involves a passionate juror who tries to convince the other jury members to change the verdict as the trial is not as apparent as it appears. An inner-city boy is accused of murder and is on the verge of losing his life should the jury decide so. This happens in a sequestrated room where things take a different turn when personal concerns and issues among the jurors come to the surface, threatening the accused.
Director: Sidney Lumet.
Main Cast: The principal cast includes Henry Fonda (as Davis, Juror 8, a humane, justice-seeking architect), Martin Balsam (as Juror 1, an assistant high school football coach and the jury foreman), John Fiedler (as Juror 2, the bank work who suffers others’ domineering demeanor), and Lee J. Cobb (as Juror 3, a courier business owner with a strained relationship with the son but very passionate about his advocate job)
Commercial Performance: ‘12 Angry Men’ did well commercially. The production team spent $337,000 producing the film. After its premiere, the film grossed $2 million.
Awards and Nominations: 12 Angry Men movie was a critically acclaimed film. It got three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing of Adapted Screenplay. The movie won the Golden Bear Award during the Berlin International Film Festival. The American Film Institute nominated 12 Angry Men movie as part of its Top 10 Films of the year. Rotten Tomatoes also recognized the movie as one of the greatest courtroom films and put it in its Top 10 Best Movies.
2) The Passion of Joan Arc (1928)
Plot: This silent historical film features the real records of Joan Arc’s trials. It portrays Joan Arc as she stands trial accused of witchcraft and heresy before the judge following allegations by a French clergyman loyal to the English. This occurs after Joan Arc’s participation during the Hundred Years of War. The court trial is emotional, featuring Joan being forced by her judges to make a statement that will discredit her allegations, a false letter being read by the clergyman, and Joan being taken to the torture chamber that scares her and causes her to faint, but does not cause her to denounce her decision. She stands firm that her instructions come from God.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Main Cast: This film’s principal cast includes Renée Jeanne Falconetti (as Joan of Arc /Jeanne d'Arc), Eugène Silvain (as Évêque Pierre Cauchon), André Berley (as Jean d'Estivet, the prosecutor), Maurice Schutz (as Nicolas Loyseleur, a canon), and Antonin Artaud (as Jean Massieu, the Dean of Rouen).
Commercial Performance: No information available.
Awards and Nominations: ‘The Passion of Joan Arc’ was critically acclaimed by many critics. The movie won the National Society of Film Critics Film Heritage Award.
Plot: This is based onon John D. Voelker’s 1928 ‘Anatomy of a Murder ‘. Voelker describes an actual incident he was involved in as the attorney general. The film features the court trials for a man who kills an innkeeper after his wife accuses the innkeeper of raping her.
Director: ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ was directed by Otto Preminger.
Main Cast: The cast list includes James Stewart (as Paul Biegler), Lee Remick (as Laura Manion), Ben Gazzara (as Lt. Frederick Manion), Arthur O'Connell (as Parnell McCarthy), and Eve Arden (as Maida Rutledge).
Commercial Performance: ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ is one of the most successful films ever produced. The movie’s budget was $2 million. After premiering, the film grossed $8 million.
Awards and Nominations: This won several Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Arthur O'Connell), Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Stewart), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (George C. Scott), Best Film Editing (Louis R. Loeffler), Best Picture (Otto Preminger), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Sam Leavitt), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Wendell Mayes). The film has several other awards and nominations from other organizations. The US Library of Congress also selected the movie for preservation in the National Film Registry for being historically, aesthetically, and culturally fit.
4) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Plot: This film depicts Atticus Finch as he defends a black man who faces allegations of raping a white woman and happens to be one of his neighbors.
Director: Robert Mulligan.
Main Cast: the film’s cast includes Gregory Peck (as Atticus Finch), Mary Badham (as Scout), Phillip Alford (as Jem), John Megna (as Charles Baker ‘Dill’ Harris), and Frank Overton (as Sheriff Heck Tate).
Commercial Performance: This movie earned a gross of $13.1 million on a $2 million production budget.
Awards and Nominations: the US Library of Congress selected ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ to be preserved in the National Film Registry as it was deemed culturally, aesthetically, and historically fit. The movie won numerous other awards, such as the three Oscars for Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium (Horton Foote), Best Art Direction – Black-and-White (Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead and Oliver Emer), and Best Actor (Gregory Peck). The movie also received three Golden Awards for Best Original Score – Motion Picture (Elmer Bernstein), Best Film Promoting International Understanding, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (Gregory Peck).
5) Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Plot: ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ is set in London’s Old Baily. It features a woman who gives damning testimony against her husband, which leaves his lawyer troubled and leaves the lawyer in an ethically questionable situation. Other shocking revelations are yet to occur, and this is just the beginning
Director: Billy Wilder.
Main Cast: This film's cast includes Tyrone Power (as Leonard Vole, the man facing allegations), Marlene Dietrich (as Christine Vole/Helm, the accused's wife), and Charles Laughton (as Sir Wilfrid Robarts Q.C., senior counsel for Vole).
Commercial Performance: This movie grossed $9 million on a budget of $2 million.
Awards and Nominations: ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ garnered many accolades. The Academy Awards nominated the movie for several awards, including Best Picture (Arthur Hornblow Jr.), Best Director (Billy Wilder), and Best Actor (Charles Laughton). The film won a Golden Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Elsa Lanchester).
6) Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Plot: This film is about a military tribunal that takes place place in Nuremberg, Germany, in which a group of four judges and prosecutors judge a case of involving atrocities during the Nazi regime. The movie also features scenes in which different Germans with varied perspectives about the war are interviewed.
Director: Stanley Kramer.
Main Cast: ‘Judgement at Nuremberg’ cast includes Spencer Tracy (as Chief Judge Dan Haywood), Burt Lancaster (as defendant Dr. Ernst Janning), Richard Widmark (as prosecutor Col. Tad Lawson), and Maximilian Schell (as defense counsel Hans Rolfe).
Commercial Performance: This film was produced on a budget of $3 million and grossed $10 million.
Awards and Nominations: ‘Judgement at Nuremberg’ won three Academy Awards for Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium (Abby Mann), Best Actor (Maximillian Schell), and Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (Stanley Kramer). The film also won three David da Donatello Awards for Best Foreign Production, Best Foreign Actor (Spencer Tracy), and David Giovani Award (Marlene Dietrich).
Plot: This film depicts the trial of a Tennessee schoolteacher who violates the Butler Act, which prohibits teachers from teaching and promoting evolution. Rather, the teachers are allowed by the Act to teach creationism. The case draws massive attention with a national writer reporting the case, two national judges for prosecution, and a advocate for the accused.
Director: Stanley Kramer.
Main Cast: This film’s cast includes Spencer Tracy (as Henry Drummond), Fredric March (as Matthew Harrison Brady), Gene Kelly (as E. K. Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, and Florence Eldridge as Sara Brady.
Commercial Performance: This movie grossed $2 million, a similar to the film’s production budget.
Awards and Nominations: During the Berlin International Film Festival, Stanley Kramer was nominated for the Golden Bear Award, but he lost it. The film received two awards for Best Actor by Fredric March and Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People by Stanley Kramer during the same event. The film also received two Golden Awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama (Stanley Kramer) and Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Spencer Tracy).
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