Question: What do the following actors share as a common link to each other?
Paul Muni, Melvyn Douglas, Spencer Tracy, Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, Orson Welles and Robert Read.
Answer: All of these actors at one time portrayed the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow either on the stage or screen, although in most instances under a fictitious name. The least recognized player of the group is Robert Read, who very briefly appeared as the real Clarence Darrow in the little known Indy film Swoon (1992). In the much more famous movie Compulsion (1959) involving the same celebrated Leopold-Loeb criminal case, Orson Welles is featured as the star of the production, although he does not appear on screen until the final court room and related scenes. George C. Scott deserves a special mention here, as he played the Darrow role on the stage in Inherit the Wind, and then switched over to the William Jennings Bryan character in the television movie version of the same play from 1999 in which Jack Lemmon assumed the Darrow part.
It is well known that Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope is based upon elements of the Loeb-Leopold case but presented as a murder mystery. Because Rope ends when the mystery is solved, the Darrow character never appears in the story.
As for the film Swoon, it is an interesting contemporary take on the famous case and its infamous leading characters. At times its documentary-style black and white photography creates an almost "fly on the wall" feeling in the observer that can be both arresting and jarring. The narrative seems to wander somewhat regarding which of the principals was actually controlling the other. And while Swoon did not attempt to be another version of Compulsion, it is at least questionable whether its almost dismissive presentation of the trial was a valid narrative device.
Swoon is a serious effort to tell this story in a new and different way, and deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Paul Muni, Melvyn Douglas, Spencer Tracy, Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, Orson Welles and Robert Read.
Answer: All of these actors at one time portrayed the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow either on the stage or screen, although in most instances under a fictitious name. The least recognized player of the group is Robert Read, who very briefly appeared as the real Clarence Darrow in the little known Indy film Swoon (1992). In the much more famous movie Compulsion (1959) involving the same celebrated Leopold-Loeb criminal case, Orson Welles is featured as the star of the production, although he does not appear on screen until the final court room and related scenes. George C. Scott deserves a special mention here, as he played the Darrow role on the stage in Inherit the Wind, and then switched over to the William Jennings Bryan character in the television movie version of the same play from 1999 in which Jack Lemmon assumed the Darrow part.
It is well known that Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope is based upon elements of the Loeb-Leopold case but presented as a murder mystery. Because Rope ends when the mystery is solved, the Darrow character never appears in the story.
As for the film Swoon, it is an interesting contemporary take on the famous case and its infamous leading characters. At times its documentary-style black and white photography creates an almost "fly on the wall" feeling in the observer that can be both arresting and jarring. The narrative seems to wander somewhat regarding which of the principals was actually controlling the other. And while Swoon did not attempt to be another version of Compulsion, it is at least questionable whether its almost dismissive presentation of the trial was a valid narrative device.
Swoon is a serious effort to tell this story in a new and different way, and deserves to be seen by a wider audience.