Most of this movie is uninteresting filler. It was adapted from Benét's one-act play, which in turn had been adapted from Benét's short story, which may explain why most of the movie seems drawn out, despite the first-rate actors (Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell).
Once we get to the trial, at the end, everything gets much better very quickly. From there almost to the end of the movie the attention is focused on Huston and Arnold, and they carry it off magnificently.
The high point, without any question, is Arnold's delivery of Daniel Webster's speech to the jury. The content by itself is magnificent. Filmed in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, it expresses everything that is - was? - good about the United States, as we had to ask ourselves what we would be fighting for in the months and years to come. But every bit as good as the content is Arnold's masterful delivery of it. Every line is "staged", and the whole thing builds to a crescendo of rhetorical brilliance such as one might have expected from one of our nation's great orators. If I were to judge this movie on that speech alone, there wouldn't be enough stars in the heavens to do justice to it.
The first part of this movie is sometimes slow going. You can go make popcorn, or finish the dinner dishes, or whatever and not really miss anything. But sit riveted to your set for the end. It will make you feel good about being human, and about being American.
Once we get to the trial, at the end, everything gets much better very quickly. From there almost to the end of the movie the attention is focused on Huston and Arnold, and they carry it off magnificently.
The high point, without any question, is Arnold's delivery of Daniel Webster's speech to the jury. The content by itself is magnificent. Filmed in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, it expresses everything that is - was? - good about the United States, as we had to ask ourselves what we would be fighting for in the months and years to come. But every bit as good as the content is Arnold's masterful delivery of it. Every line is "staged", and the whole thing builds to a crescendo of rhetorical brilliance such as one might have expected from one of our nation's great orators. If I were to judge this movie on that speech alone, there wouldn't be enough stars in the heavens to do justice to it.
The first part of this movie is sometimes slow going. You can go make popcorn, or finish the dinner dishes, or whatever and not really miss anything. But sit riveted to your set for the end. It will make you feel good about being human, and about being American.