The Trial (DVD)

Glenn Ford fights lynch mobs, racists and fellow travellers in this searing post-WWII courtroom drama costarring Dorothy McGuire and Arthur Kennedy. Forced to try a case to keep his teaching job, law professor David Blake (Ford) is hired by attorney Barney Castle (Kennedy, in an Oscar -nominated performance) to help represent Angel Chavez (Rafael Campos), a Hispanic 17-year-old accused of killing a white girl. Although the boy is innocent, David faces a trial where race counts more than evidence. So as the hearing begins and he argues to a bigoted jury, David tries to save Angels life while Barney - a card carrying Communist - plans to let the boy hang so he can use his death as a fundraising tool for the party. Adopted by Don M. Mankiewicz from his prize-winning novel, Trial is a powerful look at justice and race that "still packs a wallop" (AIImovie.com)!