Il segreto del giurato

Kent Taylor wrote the Grea American Novel, and it flopped. So he left fiancee Fay Wray and moved to a small city where he became the ghost writer for newspaper owner Samuel Hinds' editorials in return for money and stock market advice. After Hinds' opposition to flood control legislation results in the second flood in two years, this time killing four hundred people, Taylor has had enough. He has enough money. When he discovers that Hinds has ruined him, he kills the man in a fury. Luckily for him, agitator Larry J. Blake burst in on Hinds immediately after Taylor has left, and becomes the perfect fall guy without Taylor doing a thing. Imagine his joy when Miss Wray shows up covering the trial for her newspaper.... and his state of mind when he has to sit on the jury!

Edward Sloman's last movie has a good set-up, a good script, and for once does a fair job of depicting the judicial process -- enlivened by a few more objections than I've ever seen. The performances are a bit broad; Sloman was more a visual stylist than a dialogue director, and there isn't much opportunity for him to excel here. He left the movies and went comfortably into writing and directing radio for the rest of his career. He died in 1972 at the age of 89.