Classic Courtroom Movies   (BFS/AHT)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C-     Extras: D     Films:

 

Mesmerized   (1986)   C

Death Sentence   (1974 TV Movie)   C-

Dishonored Lady   (1947)   C-

 

 

Three strange films come together for the collection Classic Courtroom Movies, which starts with a Jodie Foster/John Lithgow British/Australian/New Zealand co-production called Mesmerized.  It makes sense why Foster would take on the woman’s story in which a young lady marries another man (Lithgow) for money and security, but that usually means all the wrong reasons.  Unlike Heartland (see my review elsewhere on this site), this is not as realistic and does not hold up as well.  I liked seeing the leads together, but what is ambitious and even promising eventually falls through.

 

Death Sentence is essentially a soap opera TV film from Aaron Spelling which has a man murder one woman to be with another, but that woman (poor Cloris Leachman) turns out to be a juror in the murder case, where the real murderer is NOT on trial.  Nick Nolte is among a cast of also-familiars in this formula mess.

 

The leaves the notorious Dishonored Lady, Hedy Lamarr’s vanity vehicle that helped kill her career and is a camp classic to some, though it is so bad and dull as to not necessarily be funny, unless you are really paying attention.  In all three cases, the picture and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono are awful, and the list of “sensational” U.S. Trials instantly dated.

 

The verdict?  Guilty of bad filmmaking on DVD!

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo