Genre: Crime / Drama / Mystery Director(s): Otto Preminger Release Date: 01 January 1959 Movie rating: 8.1

In this suspenseful courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger James Stewart plays the role of a small town lawyer becoming a defense attorney on a high profile murder case. Paul Biegler (Stewart), a former district attorney with a small practice in a small town, gets contacted by Laura Manion. Laura’s husband Manny, a US Army lieutenant, has been arrested for the murder of a man who has supposedly raped Laura. Manny confesses to the murder, but claims not to remember any of the events, which might allow him a release on the account of temporary insanity. Biegler is going up against not only the local district attorney, but also a big shot big city prosecutor who takes interest in this case. Biegler is using all of his legal smarts to try and convince the jury that his client acted under an “irresistible impulse”. He will also involve a young woman who, unbeknownst to the prosecution, is the daughter of the murdered. She gives a false testimony which confirms defense’s claims of Laura being raped, and lieutenant Manion is found not guilty by reason of insanity. Biegler goes to visit the Manions in their trailer park, but finds out that they have gone away, and finds a note that strongly suggests that the Manions were deceiving him and the rest of the public about what truly happened.

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