Mon fils est innocent

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.

"Trial," released in 1955 and directed by Mark Robson, starts out quite typically. A Hispanic young man (Rafael Campos) is accused of assaulting and murdering a 15-year-old girl. There is all of the accompanying town prejudice.

A law professor, David Blake (Glenn Ford) who needs trial experience in order to keep his job is taken on by attorney Barney Castle (Arthur Kennedy) and assigned the case. Though Blake's instincts go against Castle's orders, his insecurity kicks in and he conducts the pre-trial procedures the way that Barney wants them, little realizing that Barney has a very hidden agenda.

This interesting film was done at the height of the Red Scare. It's very well-acted if disconcerting - only because there is no hint at the beginning as to where this film is going to lead. Dorothy McGuire plays Castle's assistant and ex-girlfriend who falls for Blake, and Katy Jurado plays the boy's easily influenced mother. Someone else mentioned the black actor, Brazilian-born Juano Hernandez, who plays the judge. A former Broadway actor, Hernandez gives a marvelous performance and is inspired casting. Sadly, all of these actors -- Ford, McGuire, Kennedy, Campos, Hernandez, Jurado, John Hodiak (who plays the prosecutor) and Ray Middleton (the sheriff) are gone now.

Well worth watching.

Pretty good drama featuring a reluctant lawyer roped into a murder trial. As usual Ford does a credible job as the harried attorney who strives to see his client gets a fair shake. To do this he must alienate many of the town's leading citizens who are, of course, looking out for #1. Worth seeing.

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.

Trial is an intelligently written look at the explosive issues of the 50s: race and communism. Though the film is hindered by its overly virulent anti-communist screenplay, it does try and deal with the intersection of race and justice in what was probably a very liberal manner in 1955. Trial is probably the first American film made with an African-American in an authority role (the always excellent Juano Hernandez as the trial judge). The film does take a wack at McCarthy (here 'disguised' as Congressman Battle) and also is openly critical of racists and nationalists. Even with the redbaiting--some of which is probably accurate--Trial is a very well made and brave film with one of Glenn Ford's best performances at its heart.