Feature Film | Drama | USA | English | 1h28m
Dir: Elia Kazan | Scr: Richard Murphy | Article: Anthony Abbot | Ph: Norbert Brodine | Prod: Louis de Rochemont | Mus: David Buttolph | Ed: Harmon Jones | AD: Richard Day & Chester Gore | Snd: W.D. Flick & Roger Heman | Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Cara Williams, Arthur Kennedy, Sam Levene, Taylor Holmes, Robert Keith, Ed Begley, Philip Coolidge
Based on an unsolved 1924 murder case, Kazan’s diverting police procedural-cum-courtroom drama sees an unflinchingly honest state’s attorney come to question, despite much public protestation and political pressure, the seemingly airtight evidence arrayed against a man accused of murdering a popular local pastor. Despite some fine performances, the film is merely solidly (and indeed vaguely blandly) crafted, with most of its allure coming from its true life source material.
