Trial (1955)

Directed by Mark Robson. Starring Glenn Ford, Arthur Kennedy, Dorothy McGuire, John Hodiak, Juano Hernandez, Robert Middleton, Rafael Campos, Katy Jurado, John Hoyt, Elisha Cook Jr.

Kennedy hires law professor Ford to defend a Hispanic teen (Campos) on trial for rape and murder; Ford believes in the boy’s innocence, but Kennedy, a fundraiser for a communist group, has ulterior motives for taking on the case. More interested in tackling extremism and McCarthy-era mob mentality than courtroom drama theatrics; just as well, since it’s not an especially original case, with the shy accused and his histrionic mother (Jurado) both right off the assembly line. But aside from a forced romantic sub-plot involving law clerk Mcguire, and an overblown sentencing sequence at the end, it’s still an involving narrative, with one of Ford’s more quintessential turns, and Kennedy flat-out terrific in perhaps the meatiest role of his fine film career. Script adaptation by Don Mankiewicz from his own same-named novel.

70/100