When his movie career kind of stalled Van Heflin was offered a chance to go back
to Broadway and do A Case Of Libel based on a portion of attorney Louiis Nizer's
book My Life In Court. A book highly recommend for this and other courtroom
trials. He scored a great success in the play and we're lucky to have his performance preserved albeit with a different supporting cast.
A Case Of Libel got the Inherit The Wind treatment, different names for the recognizable historic characters Van Heflin is Nizer as Robert Sloane who has
taken on A Case Of Libel. The plaintiff is Quentin Reynolds aka Dennis Corcoran, a name and voice known to millions from his writing and broadcasts
from World War 2. You might remember Reynolds narrating the British film The
Way Ahead when it was released in the American version. Angie Dickinson
plays his then wife, they later divorced after the court case, years after.
The object of the suit is Jose Ferrer playing the Rush Limbaugh of his day
Westbrook Pegler. His name for this play is Boyd Bendix and Pegler was as arrogant in real life as Ferrer shows him to be. At onetime Pegler and Reynolds
were friends, but drifted apart as during the 30s and 40s Pegler got more and
more right wing. He ceased being part of the journalistic reporter camaraderie
and became an ideologue. Nizer;s book offers no real clue as to why Pegler
took after Reynolds.
But he did on a broad assault. He called him a coward, a lecher, a plagiarist
among other things. He didn't miss much in Reynolds's personal or private life.
Nizer brought in many witnesses to counteract all of Pegler's claims.
Two scenes stand out for me. One is Dickinson going after Ferrer as to why he
went after her husband and former colleague.
The second is Jose Ferrer on the witness and I mean stand as Ferrer chooses to stand while being questioned as if to stair down his accusers. A picture of
incredible arrogance. You won't forget Heflin and Ferrer in this scene, it's as
memorable as Spencer Tracy and Fredric March in Inherit The Wind.
Pegler drifted further and further to the right. When he died he was a supporter and worked for the John Birch Society. A strange man.
If this is ever broadcast do not miss A Case Of Libel, this or any other version.
