Directed by Billy Wilder • 1957 • United States
Starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton
Agatha Christie’s masterful stage play gets a brilliantly entertaining screen adaptation courtesy of Billy Wilder, who deftly balances courtroom intrigue and black comedy for a triumph of studio-era craftsmanship. Charles Laughton is a delight as London barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, whose job defending the charming but suspicious Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) against a charge of murder gets a lot harder when Vole’s cold-hearted wife, Christine (Marlene Dietrich), decides to testify against him. To reveal more would be a crime, as the nonstop twists and turns are half the fun of this all-time-classic mystery.
Up Next in Courtroom Dramas
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12 Angry Men
Directed by Sidney Lumet • 1957 • United States
Starring Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb12 ANGRY MEN, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adap...
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Philadelphia
Directed by Jonathan Demme • 1993 • United States
Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio BanderasThe first major Hollywood film to address the AIDS crisis and homophobia is a groundbreaking, empathetic social drama directed with a humanist touch by Jonathan Demme. Tom Hanks won the Acad...
