The most interesting thing about 'The Thirteenth Juror' is the middle initials of its two leading players, Francis X. Bushman and Anna Q. Nilsson. This is surely the only time in film history that an actor with the middle initial "X" was teamed with an actress with the middle initial "Q". And I was thinking about this while I watched the movie, which should tell you how interesting this movie is.
Bushman plays an attorney who is highly respected but is secretly a serial philanderer. He gets caught in the act when his latest paramour's husband (George Siegmann) comes home unexpectedly. Bushman kills him in self-defence. For wildly complicated and implausible reasons, he decides to make the killing appear to be a homicide, so as to protect Anna Q. Nilsson. Bushman nobly stands trial for murder, in the full knowledge that he could get off with a verdict of self-defence if he told the truth. Make sense to you? Me neither.
SPOILERS COMING, BUT THERE'S NOTHING TO SPOIL. Anna Q. Nilsson and Francis X. Bushman are meant to be lovers in this movie, but the combination of Q and X adds up to zero. At the end, Bushman is acquitted (via an implausible gimmick) and he stands there beaming with approval as Nilsson is reunited with her husband ... played by Walter Pidgeon, in another of his long series of thankless roles. Pidgeon's character in this movie is named Marsden, which is also the name of the character he played 3 years later in a completely unrelated film, 'The Gorilla', which is a lot better than *this* movie.
'The Thirteenth Juror' is a dark-purple mellerdrammer. Nobody in this movie behaves normally if they have a chance to clench their fists, dishevel their hair, quiver their brows. This movie was made by Universal Studios under the reign of Carl Laemmle, who was nicknamed 'Uncle' because of his penchant for putting his relatives on the payroll. (Ogden Nash famously wrote: 'Carl Laemmle had a very large faemmle'.) 'The Thirteenth Juror' was directed by Edward Laemmle, one of Carl's numerous nephews, who showed absolutely no talent for filmmaking and whose career was entirely due to Universal's nepotism. (On the other hand, another of Carl Laemmle's nephews was William Wyler, who became a very great director indeed.) I'll rate 'The Thirteenth Juror' one point out of 10. Next case!
Bushman plays an attorney who is highly respected but is secretly a serial philanderer. He gets caught in the act when his latest paramour's husband (George Siegmann) comes home unexpectedly. Bushman kills him in self-defence. For wildly complicated and implausible reasons, he decides to make the killing appear to be a homicide, so as to protect Anna Q. Nilsson. Bushman nobly stands trial for murder, in the full knowledge that he could get off with a verdict of self-defence if he told the truth. Make sense to you? Me neither.
SPOILERS COMING, BUT THERE'S NOTHING TO SPOIL. Anna Q. Nilsson and Francis X. Bushman are meant to be lovers in this movie, but the combination of Q and X adds up to zero. At the end, Bushman is acquitted (via an implausible gimmick) and he stands there beaming with approval as Nilsson is reunited with her husband ... played by Walter Pidgeon, in another of his long series of thankless roles. Pidgeon's character in this movie is named Marsden, which is also the name of the character he played 3 years later in a completely unrelated film, 'The Gorilla', which is a lot better than *this* movie.
'The Thirteenth Juror' is a dark-purple mellerdrammer. Nobody in this movie behaves normally if they have a chance to clench their fists, dishevel their hair, quiver their brows. This movie was made by Universal Studios under the reign of Carl Laemmle, who was nicknamed 'Uncle' because of his penchant for putting his relatives on the payroll. (Ogden Nash famously wrote: 'Carl Laemmle had a very large faemmle'.) 'The Thirteenth Juror' was directed by Edward Laemmle, one of Carl's numerous nephews, who showed absolutely no talent for filmmaking and whose career was entirely due to Universal's nepotism. (On the other hand, another of Carl Laemmle's nephews was William Wyler, who became a very great director indeed.) I'll rate 'The Thirteenth Juror' one point out of 10. Next case!
