Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

LeonLouisRicci There are just too many Complicated Issues on Display in this Well Meaning but Ultimately Frustrating and Meandering Film to make it anything more than a Confusing Curiosity of its Time. Bigotry, Greed, Communism, the Flawed Judicial System, Liberalism, Conservatism, Inter Racial Relationships, Corrupt Politicians and Law Enforcers, Martyrdoms, and Academia are all Touched on here with Varying Degrees of Insights and Outright Stereotypes.The Movie is just too Heavy and is brought down by its own Weight of Wondering about so Many Things that it Rarely Attains any Valuable Views on its Multitude of Controversial Subjects. Well Acted, with some Unsure Directing by the Occasionally Brilliant Mark Robson (see 1943's The Seventh Victim), the Problem here is a Convoluted and Overloaded Script that, in the end, does no Justice to the Myriad of Matters it Explores.There are Hispanics and Blacks in Major Roles and there are Things On Screen that did not Juxtapose Easily with the Conservative Fifties, so the Film is at least Credited for Trying to Shed some Light on Wrongs in Search of a Remedy.

bkoganbing Trial is one of the best films of the Fifties and a personal favorite of mine in the credits of a favorite actor of mine, Glenn Ford. Made at the end of what is loosely described as the 'McCarthy Era', Trial bravely tackles the evils of right and leftwing extremism and shows that people of good will can make a difference in defeating them. It's a subject I'm surprised Frank Capra didn't consider as a project.Communist attorney Arthur Kennedy has latched on to a case involving the death of a teenage caucasian girl in which a young Mexican boy stands accused of her murder. In fact we see the events as they transpire at the beginning of the film. The boy, very winningly played by Rafael Campos has some very dubious culpability in the matter.But in this California town, prejudice against Mexican-Americans runs pretty high. Rafael is arrested and the Communist party looks to jump in. For window dressing they latch on to law professor Glenn Ford who agrees to go to court with the young man, partly to prove the falsity of that old adage about those who can't, teach.Ford does pretty good for a while, but Kennedy who's more interested in a martyr and the stirring up of race prejudice, gets the mother played by Katy Jurado to have Rafael take the stand. District Attorney John Hodiak in a devastating cross examination blows the defense wide open.Arthur Kennedy's bravura performance as Communist attorney Barney Castle won him an Oscar nomination, but he lost out to Jack Lemmon for Mister Roberts. But my personal favorite in this film is the Judge played with strength and dignity by Juano Hernandez. Judge Hernandez shows as Shakespeare put it that the quality of mercy is indeed not strained.I can't think of another film in that time that showed some of the problems that scar America's soul, but also show that the cure offered might indeed be worse.Unseen is a state investigating committee against subversives where Ford's been subpoened to appear. That's not modeled after McCarthy, the reference is to a California State Senator named Jack Tenney who in that era attempted to be a state version of McCarthy. And like McCarthy generated a lot of heat, but very little light. Glenn and the cast can be very proud of the work they did on this film.

Max45 A 50's movie which challenges extremism at many levels. Bigotry, police corruption, mob mentality and communist subversion all are taken to task in this movie. A young Hispanic boy is accused of murdering a young white girl. Glen Ford, a law academic with no practical experience takes the case to learn what it is like to handle a real case rather than one from a text book. He is an incredible teacher, but will he be as good in the real world.Throughout the story see then towns people wanting to hang the boy, the subversion of a communist sympathizer who uses the young man and his mother to further his cause, corrupt police, real-estate hungry bigots and more.Truth win out in the end. However, Fords character is challenged by the trial judge, brilliantly played by Juana Hernandez, and his own bigotry (Sydney Portier does the same to Ford in "The Blackboard Jungle".Over all a good movie set in the cold war era. It is a film where consensus is fought for and truth prevails.

Christopher Pike Surprisingly, this movie is very entertaining. Some parts are unintentionally humorous, and it's not one of the all-time greats, but it is well worth watching. It's much more involving than most movies of its day.