Trial

Trial (1955)

Tense! Timely! Thrilling!

A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters. A courtroom drama set in 1947 and underlying post-WW2 acute problems facing the USA such as stormy race relations and the growing threat of local communism.

Date of release
1955-10-07
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (17)
Runtime
1h 45m
Genres
Drama
Director
Mark Robson

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Trial is a 1955 American legal drama film directed by Mark Robson and starring Glenn Ford, Dorothy McGuire, and Arthur Kennedy. It features John Hodiak, Katy Jurado, Rafael Campos, and Juano Hernandez.

Production

Mankiewicz's novel won the 1954 "Harper's Prize" which included an award of $10,000 and a guarantee of publication by Harper's Publishing. He also received $25,000 from MGM for the screen rights and was hired to write the film adaptation. Mankiewicz softened the story's ending for the film and developed the love story.

Principal photography and post-production for Trial took place from early April through May 16, 1955.

The scene depicting a rally in New York City was filmed over three days in Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium and cost $110,000. Two thousand extras were used, including 750 students from the nearby University of Southern California.

Executives at MGM were concerned that the film's script might be seen as a "subtle Communist vehicle" because of negative remarks made in the story about Senator Battle's zealous anti-Communist campaign, and the sympathetic manner in which the film dealt with a former Communist Party member, the ex-lover of the protagonist.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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