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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications The Courtroom Trial Sequence in Hollywood Cinema, 1934-1966 Patrick Pilkington A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television Studies October 2015 1 Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ 4 List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ 9 Declaration ......................................................................................................................... 10 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 12 Review of the Literature .................................................................................................... 23 1. Standard Trial Procedure: The Conventions of the Courtroom Trial Sequence in Hollywood Cinema, 1934-1966 ......................................................................................... 51 The Space of the Courtroom ............................................................................................ 55 Legal Actors: The Players in the Courtroom ................................................................... 67 Procedural and Dramatic Development: Courtroom/Drama............................................ 89 2. The Great Levellers?: Social Issues on Trial and the Social Problem Film Courtroom Sequence ....................................................................................................... 118 The ‘Social Problem’ Problem ....................................................................................... 119 The Courts, the Roads and the “Place to Hang your Hat”: Dust Be My Destiny ........... 135 “…to be tried because she is a Negro”: The Problem Trial in Pinky ............................. 165 3. Laws of Desire: The Courtroom Sequence in the Woman’s Melodrama ............... 194 Conceptualisations of Film Melodrama (1): The Family Melodrama ........................... 195 Conceptualisations of Film Melodrama (2): The Woman’s Melodrama ....................... 200 Melodrama and Emotion................................................................................................ 202 Melodrama’s Aesthetic of Justice and Relationships to the Law .................................. 204 Home Truths: The Courtroom Trial Sequence of Peyton Place .................................... 213 The Mother and The Law in Madame X ........................................................................ 242 4. Disorder and the Caught: The Courtroom Trial Sequence in Film Noir ............... 268 Defining Noir ................................................................................................................. 268 Reconsidering Law Noir ................................................................................................ 277 Noir’s Peripheral Courts: The Oblique Trials of Scarlet Street and Phantom Lady ...... 285 “Sometimes they do get the wrong man….”: Stranger on the Third Floor and the Nightmare Trials of Noir ............................................................................................... 294 2 “This trial keeps getting screwier all the time”: The Courtroom’s Place in the World (Gone Insane) of The Lady from Shanghai .................................................................... 331 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 361 Appendix: Evidence of the Prevalence of the Conventions of Trial Depiction in Hollywood Cinema ........................................................................................................... 367 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 373 Filmography ..................................................................................................................... 386 3 List of Tables Table 1: The Conventions Used in Depicting the Space of the Courtroom…...…368 Table 2: The Conventions Used in Depicting the ‘Legal Actors’…………..……369 Table 3: The Conventions of ‘Courtroom/Drama’…………………………….…371 4 List of Illustrations Figure 1. Diagram of the standard courtroom layout in Hollywood cinema………………56 Figure 2. Judge and witness in frame in To Kill a Mockingbird…………………………...60 Figure 3. The triangular configuration in To Kill a Mockingbird………………………….61 Figure 4. The triangular configuration in Anatomy of a Murder…………………………..61 Figure 5. ‘Anthropocentric commitment’– the camera arcs 360 degrees around the character of Tad Lawson, prosecuting attorney (Richard Widmark) in Judgment at Nuremberg [1]……………………………………………………………………………..65 Figure 6. ‘Anthropocentric commitment’ [2]……………………………………………...65 Figure 7. ‘Anthropocentric commitment’ [3]…………………………………………..….65 Figure 8. ‘Anthropocentric commitment’ [4]……………………………………………...66 Figure 9. The Judge in To Kill a Mockingbird…………………………………………….69 Figure 10. The Judge in Compulsion…………………………………………………...…69 Figure 11. First Doctor on the stand in Compulsion………………………………………88 Figure 12. Second Doctor on the stand in Compulsion……………………………………88 Figure 13. Ruth (Diane Varsi) in close-up on the stand in Compulsion…………………..88 Figure 14. The defendant’s outburst in Witness for the Prosecution……………………...97 Figure 15. The defendant’s outburst in Anatomy of a Murder…………………………….98 Figure 16. A panicked Mayella (Collin Wilcox) in To Kill a Mockingbird……………...100 Figure 17. The camera zooms in on Mayella…………………………………………..…101 Figure 18. Mayella’s outburst………………………………………………………….....101 Figure 19. The triangular configuration in The Young Philadelphians………………..…106 Figure 20. Lawrence versus Donetti [1]………………………………………………….107 Figure 21. Lawrence versus Donetti [2]………………………………………………….107 Figure 22. Tony (Paul Newman) framed with the jury…………………………………...109 Figure 23. Tony approaching the witness……………………………………………...…109 Figure 24. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) giving his closing statement in To Kill a Mockingbird……………………………………………………………………………....114 Figure 25. Jonathan Wilk (Orson Welles) gives his closing statement in Compulsion…..115 Figure 26. The ‘new citizen’ of To Kill a Mockingbird…………………………………..131 Figure 27. …and the defendant of To Kill a Mockingbird……………………………….131 Figure 28. The ‘new citizen’ of 12 Angry Men…………………………………………...131 5 Figure 29. …and the defendant of 12 Angry Men…………………………………….….132 Figure 30. The Justice of the Peace in Dust Be My Destiny………………………...……140 Figure 31. The unimpressive lower court of Dust Be My Destiny………………………..142 Figure 32. The Justice of the Peace…………………………………………...………….147 Figure 33. The Judge of the climactic courtroom trial………………………..……….....147 Figure 34. The jury, as viewed by Joe and the viewer……………………………………154 Figure 35. Mabel appealing to the jury [1]……………………………………………….159 Figure 36. Mabel appealing to the jury [2]……………………………………………….159 Figure 37. A shot of the jury, being addressed by Mabel…………………………...……161 Figure 38. A female juror in the back row leans forward, responding to Mabel’s distress…………………………………………………………………………………….161 Figure 39. Mabel breaks down on the stand………………………………………..….…162 Figure 40. A reaction shot of Joe during Mabel’s plea………………………………..….162 Figure 41. The happy family post-verdict [1]…………………………………………….164 Figure 42. The happy family post-verdict [2]…………………………………………….164 Figure 43. Stanley (Dan Riss), gesturing to the “colored” defendant……………….……177 Figure 44. Stanley gesturing to the “reliable witnesses”…………………………….….177 Figure 45. Stanley and Sheriff Anderson (Arthur Hunnicut) reclining during Anderson’s examination………………………………………………………………………………182 Figure 46. The anonymous jury of Peyton Place………………………………………...227 Figure 47. The conventional depiction of the judge……………………………………...227 Figure 48. Constance (Lana Turner) makes eye-contact with her daughter during court’s coming to order………………………………………………………………………..…228 Figure 49. Allison (Diane Varsi) glances at her mother…………………………………228 Figure 50. Selena alone mid-frame after saying farewell to Ted…….…………….230 Figure 51. Selena framed in isolation during Lucas’ attempted “attack”.……………….230 Figure 52. Selena’s presence minimised by the framing during her testimony………….231 Figure 53. Constance on the stand, distracted by her daughter………………………….234 Figure 54. Allison’s reaction conveys her concern for her mother………………………234 Figure 55. Constance breaks down on the stand [1]……………………………………..234 Figure 56. Constance breaks down on the stand [2]……………………………………..235 Figure 57. Marylee Hadley (Dorothy Malone) shares