This evening presents two of the four films in the AALS Annual Meeting Law and Film Series. This night features two classic films on legal topics, chosen for their cinematic and legal value, identifying film resources for possible classroom instructional purposes, as well as raising general awareness for law and film appreciation purposes. For each of these two nights of film showings, we will present double feature films chosen by the AALS Annual Meeting Film Advisory Committee. There will be brief discussions and commentary in connection with the films.
Classic films:
The Talk of the Town (George Stevens, 1942) (118 minutes)
Starring Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, and Cary Grant
School is in session when a persnickety law professor rents a home for peace and quiet during a pivotal summer in his career, and instead learns lessons in flexibility and the importance of maintaining a fresh perspective of the law.
Compulsion (Richard Fleischer, 1959) (103 minutes)
Starring E. G. Marshall, Dean Stockwell, and Orson Welles
Based on an actual 1920s case involving two law students who viciously murdered a 14-year-old boy for the intellectual “thrill” of it, this film addresses two topics that were then quite controversial – homosexuality and capital punishment.