Your favorite B&W courtroom drama?

[Ptah]

Witness For The Prosecution

Anatomy of A Murder

12 Angry Men

[Sneederbunk]

1. Judgement at Nuremberg

[some_of_us_are_sane]

15. Same here, Nuremberg

Such great performances by Mongomery Clift, Burt Lancaster and Spencer Tracy. Wow!

[CTyankee]

17. And Marlene Dietrich. I love her last scene with Tracy where she says "We didn't know."

It was a damning line. Of course, they KNEW!

It should be required viewing for every high school student who has any kind of 20 century history course.

[JoseBalow]

2. The Life of Emile Zola

I just love Paul Muni

[marble falls]

3. All of those three and add Perry Mason, Harrigan and Son, Judd for the Defense, To Kill a Mocking Bird ...

... Inherit the Wind, Caine Mutiny, Compulsion, Advise and Consent, and a bunch more I can't remember the titles to!

[Wonder Why]

4. Not Perry Mason. Too hokey IMHO. I served on real juries and some people on the juries

expected that the prosecutor would come out with damning evidence that was so clear that the defendant would stand up and say "I did it" just like Perry made them do.

Serious federal cases with juries, not all of which had a brain.

[marble falls]

6. I've been on juries, too. NOTHING goes according to Hoyle, jurors don't listen to judges, attorneys ...

... screw up, that's the nature of it, particularly in cases that aren't the sort that are clear cut. I also have a sister and brother who are lawyers. And a sister in law lawyer, too. All the cases I've sat on were criminal, but no murders.

Being on a jury showed me how many cops are there to play the game: convict the defendant no matter what. And how many prosecutors are looking for higher political office. I found this in Illinois (DuPage County) and in Texas (Travis and Burnet Counties). My sister is in Harris County and my brother and sis-in-law are in Travis County.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

18. What?

Perry Mason was a defense attorney.

[Wonder Why]

21. I know but whether it is the prosecution or the defense, that show so distorted the reality

of the courtroom that many of the juries I served at least one person with had false impression of what goes on in a trial and what it means. I have seen many examples in those cases but I'll use one as an example.

The trial was a couple of years after the crime was supposedly committed. The police officer gave his side and the defendant painted an opposite picture. One was lying but which one. One juror said that the defendant "said he didn't do it" and that was enough for her. Others believed the police office because "they tell the truth". I noted that both the defendant and officer said they were good friends at the time and liked each other. I also noted that the officer wrote a report at the time of the incident, to me more informative because of their friendship and it was backed up with other evidence presented by the D.A. Unlike Mason and the D.A, who violate court protocol and walk up to and confront witnesses face to face and somehow pull out at the last minute such convincing evidence that the real guilty party stands up and admits their guilt, real trials are not like that at all but many jurors don't evaluate evidence but just expect results like that. If the defense attorney can't pull a rabbit out at the last minute, the defendant must be guilty. Only in one trial did something like that happen but it was the D.A. that pulled out the rabbit but, even then, the defendant did not admit anything so we had to judge the value of the rabbit, not just have an easy time of verifying the guilt.

In the case of the juror who believed that the defendant would not lie, we ended up with a hung jury, 11-1 for guilty. In the "rabbit" case, the defendant was convicted but it took a long time for us to decide.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

19. Love Perry Mason

...and The Caine Mutiny, but I think that was made in color.

[marble falls]

20. Then the strawberries were battleship gray! ...

... I've seen it often and I see it in my mind in black and white. But the publicity photos are in color, so ............

[Bmoboy]

5. The Defenders

TV series with E G Marshall (who was also in 12 Angry Men) and Robert Reed (before The Brady Bunch).

Ain't life inneressin?

[marble falls]

7. Forgot that one, it was great.

[Tarzanrock]

8. The 1963 - 1964 ABC series ...

... Arrest & Trial with Chuck Connors and Ben Gazzara.

[johnp3907]

10. Never heard of this one.

Looks like I can check it out on YouTube!

[madamesilverspurs]

9. Oddly, the original "Miracle on 34th Street"

For the wry in-chambers discussion between the judge and the political operative (Gene Lockhart and William Frawley, respectively) about the potential ramifications of the case. And in the courtroom, "...ye shall be hoid."

.

[johnp3907]

11. 12 Angry Men is my favorite.

Judgement at Nuremburg is another good one.

[Paladin]

14. Those are my two favorites. (nt)

[Tarzanrock]

12. It's difficult to beat the Perry Mason televison series.

The first 5 seasons of that television show -- 1958 to 1962 -- are currently available to be watched on that Tubi "free" streaming network. Check it out. The cast is fantastic, every one of the players is a terrific, experienced professional actor who performs marvelously. The scripts, the dialogue and the drama are pretty much better than anything on television today. Then, there are the fantastic automobiles, the Cadillacs, the Lincolns, the Fords, the Mercurys, the Thunderbirds, the Corvettes, etc. There are the boats, the ships and the maritime scenes. There are the scenes of Los Angeles and California in the late 1950's and the early 1960's. There are the courtroom scenes from the Old Los Angeles Downtown Criminal Courthouse and the new Stanley Mosk Courthouse opened in January, 1959. Then, there is the music and the cinematography. It's hard to beat the "guest stars" who appeared in this series -- all are first rate actors. One of the best is the iconic Bette Davis playing widowed lawyer, Constant Doyle. Bette is just one of many who appeared in this fantastic television series.

[dai13sy]

13. Perry Mason

[justaprogressive]

16. Inherit the Wind

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053946/

[AllaN01Bear]

22. perry masonary