Otto Preminger's very watchable courtroom drama, with James Stewart foreshadowing his Hawkins television series as the slow-talking lawyer picking his way determinedly through a tangle of rape and murder. It was explosive stuff in its time, with most of the controversy centring on the scenes in which the prosecution (a striking early appearance by George C Scott) is trying to establish that Lee Remick was not raped at all, but only too willing. Joseph N Welch, a real-life judge, performs nobly in the only acting role of his career as the judge in charge of this high-tension trial - Remick's husband (Ben Gazzara) is accused of killing the man who allegedly ravished her - and there are fine supporting performances from Arthur O'Connell and Eve Arden as Stewart's dog-eared assistant and wisecracking secretary, both creating characters that are instantly likeable.

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