Die zwölf Geschworenen

I certainly would not have watched this film if I had not known the original, the ingenious "12 Angry Men", directed by Sidney Lumet. This German TV film was made only six years later and it is almost as great as the original, mostly because of the wonderful cast, minor changes in the script and because it focuses on one setting only: the room of the jury. This creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, which is needed to understand the tension between all the characters. As far as the cast is concerned, I liked Siegfried Lowitz, Mario Adorf and Ralf Wolter in particular, but the other actors gave convincing performances as well. By the way, there is another TV remake from 1997 starring Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott, which is not only in colour but in my opinion even more compelling than Sidney Lumet's film. But since the other ones are exciting, too, make sure you watch one of them.