>    So, here it is, the beginning of the fiscal year, and I
>now have money in my video budget and am ready to start
>buying! And I need suggestions! I know that there have been
 
    Sally,
 
    I figure your collection must already have FURY (1936, Fritz
    Lang), but I have to mention it because it may well be my favorite
    trial-based movie:  Spencer Tracy is wrongly accused of murder and then
    seemingly burned alive.  He escapes, though, and watches gleefully as
    the townspeople are put on trial for his "murder."
 
    Hmmm, as I check my 1990 edition of Maltin, I note that it might not be
    available on videotape.  Doggone it!
 
    Also, for your students itching to do Lacanian, poststructuralist
    analysis you'll want to be sure to have YOUNG MR. LINCOLN
    (1939, John Ford) on hand--along with a copy of the CAHIERS DU CINEMA
    "rescanning" of it.   The film centers on Lincoln's pre-presidential
    years and an apocryphal murder trial in which he defends two young men.
 
    Oh yes, one last suggestion:
 
    THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937, Leo McCarey) begins with a hilarious courtroom
    scene involving a custody battle over a dog between the divorcing Irene
    Dunne and Cary Grant.