|||||| The Planet of Great Moviez ||||||||: 12 Angry Men (1957)

12 Angry Men (released in the UK as Twelve Angry Men) is a drama film produced in 1957 by director Sidney Lumet based on the play 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose. It is about a jury member who must try to persuade the other 11 members to acquit the suspect on trial on the basis of reasonable doubt. The film is notable for its use of a single set: with the exception of three minutes of screen-time split between the beginning and the end and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room.The ensemble cast includes Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Ed Binns, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, and Joseph Sweeney (his last appearance in motion pictures).

Production:
The jurors, with #8 (Henry Fonda) and #3 (Lee J. Cobb) in the frontReginald Rose's screenplay for 12 Angry Men was initially produced for television, and was broadcast on the CBS program Studio One in 1954. A complete kinescope of that performance, which had been missing for years and feared lost, was finally discovered in 2003.
The success of the TV film resulted in a film adaptation. Sidney Lumet, whose prior directorial credits included dramas for television productions such as the Alcoa Hour and Studio One, was recruited by Henry Fonda and Rose to direct. 12 Angry Men was Lumet's first feature film, and for Fonda and Rose, who co-produced the film, it was their first and only roles as film producers. Fonda later stated that he would never again produce a film.
The filming was completed after a short but rigorous rehearsal schedule in less than three weeks on a budget of about $350,000.
At the beginning of the film, the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater depth between subjects, but as the film progresses the focal length of the lenses is gradually increased. By the end of the film, nearly everyone is shown in closeup using telephoto lenses from a lower angle, which decreases or "shortens" depth of field. Lumet, who began his career as a director of photography, stated that his intention in using these techniques with cinematographer Boris Kaufman was to create a nearly palpable claustrophobia.

Responses:
Critical responses:
On its first release, 12 Angry Men received critical acclaim. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote "It makes for taut, absorbing, and compelling drama that reaches far beyond the close confines of its jury room setting." His observation of the 12 men was that "their dramas are powerful and provocative enough to keep a viewer spellbound." However, it was not a popular success: the advent of color and widescreen productions resulted in the film receiving a disappointing box office performance.
Today, the film is viewed as a "classic" and is highly regarded from both a critical and popular viewpoint: Roger Ebert lists it as one of his "Great Movies," and it has been consistently ranked in the top 14 of the Internet Movie Database Top 250 List. It also has a 100% rating on both critics and users polls at the site Rotten Tomatoes. The American Film Institute named Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda, the 28th greatest movie hero of the 20th century, named 12 Angry Men the 42nd most inspiring film, and recently, named it the 87th best film of the past hundred years.

Awards:
The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. In all of these categories, the film was eclipsed by The Bridge on the River Kwai, which won seven Academy Awards that year. At the Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the Golden Bear Award.

ScreenShots:

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

12 Angry Men (1957)

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