The problem here is unrestrained overacting, mostly committed by a couple of actors that were right for the small screen, but not for motion pictures.
The story line is actually rather interesting -- a judge, a U.S. senator, and a district attorney are all running for the governorship. A murder case comes up pitting the judge and the D.A. at odds, with one out for political gain and the other attempting to maintain his integrity. Meanwhile, the U.S. senator repeatedly crosses the line pandering to raw politics.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. -- the judge -- probably plays the most even-tempered role; in fact, I have often wondered why Zimbalist was not a more successful big screen actor. Angie Dickinson, the nominal female lead, does rather nicely as the wife of the DA who is in love with the judge.
Jack Kelly might have been fine on television's "Maverick", but he seemed ill-prepared for this big screen effort; his overacting is frequent and hurt the film's believability.
Don Ameche, long a favorite of mine, plays the dishonest senator, and I'm sorry to say that here his performance seems just a bit off the mark, although his two major scenes later in the film are quite good. It was good seeing him at this particular phase of his career.
The crown to overacting here, however, goes to Ray Danton, who played the defense attorney.
An unexpected appearance by a silver screen veteran is one of the highlights of the film. Herbert Marshall doesn't have much screen time here, but he makes the most of it playing a former governor. Marshall was nearing the end of his sterling career here.
Another actor who deserves credit here is Jesse White...an often forgotten character actor...beyond being your Maytag man. He's a natural for his role here. Carroll O'Connor has a decent role as a political operative.
In the early half of the film, it seemed to this amateur that the legal maneuverings were fairly realistic. The maneuverings in the last third of the film seemed rather questionable. And the ending seems rather illogical.
Nevertheless, there's enough of interest here to be able to give this film a "7", despite all its faults.
Robert Colbert
The story line is actually rather interesting -- a judge, a U.S. senator, and a district attorney are all running for the governorship. A murder case comes up pitting the judge and the D.A. at odds, with one out for political gain and the other attempting to maintain his integrity. Meanwhile, the U.S. senator repeatedly crosses the line pandering to raw politics.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. -- the judge -- probably plays the most even-tempered role; in fact, I have often wondered why Zimbalist was not a more successful big screen actor. Angie Dickinson, the nominal female lead, does rather nicely as the wife of the DA who is in love with the judge.
Jack Kelly might have been fine on television's "Maverick", but he seemed ill-prepared for this big screen effort; his overacting is frequent and hurt the film's believability.
Don Ameche, long a favorite of mine, plays the dishonest senator, and I'm sorry to say that here his performance seems just a bit off the mark, although his two major scenes later in the film are quite good. It was good seeing him at this particular phase of his career.
The crown to overacting here, however, goes to Ray Danton, who played the defense attorney.
An unexpected appearance by a silver screen veteran is one of the highlights of the film. Herbert Marshall doesn't have much screen time here, but he makes the most of it playing a former governor. Marshall was nearing the end of his sterling career here.
Another actor who deserves credit here is Jesse White...an often forgotten character actor...beyond being your Maytag man. He's a natural for his role here. Carroll O'Connor has a decent role as a political operative.
In the early half of the film, it seemed to this amateur that the legal maneuverings were fairly realistic. The maneuverings in the last third of the film seemed rather questionable. And the ending seems rather illogical.
Nevertheless, there's enough of interest here to be able to give this film a "7", despite all its faults.
Robert Colbert