12 Angry Men [DVD] [1957] [2014]

One room. Twelve men. One decision to make. That's the basic premise of 12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet's effortlessly brilliant drama. A story of human nature and how one seed of doubt can seep into the minds of the most stubborn of people.A young man is tried for the murder of his father. The jury are asked to come to a decision having been provided with the facts of the case. As the jury members enter their private quarters they all seem to be unanimous in their decision. The case is surely as black and white as the film, the boy did it, no doubt about it. That is until Juror number 8 issues a not guilty vote.They decide to let him voice his concerns and what starts off as a seemingly straight forward case slowly starts to unravel as more and more of his fellow jurors start to see that there may be more to this story than there at first appears.Henry Fonda is marvellous as the Juror who starts the ball rolling. He isn't overly sure the boy isn't guilty but manages to place enough doubt in the others minds so that he isn't sent to his death on a whim. This is a person's life, it can't be decided in five minutes. Henry Fonda's charismatic lead steers the film. When he speaks, you listen and he really manages to pull the audience into the room with him.Sharply written, the story cleverly unfolds showing the cracks in what was at first a very solid story. The dialogue is snappy, brisk and economic. Characters say what they have to say without any fluff. A film set in a room for 90 mins should be fairly static. No so with Lumet's sublime style. The camera pans and flows round the room, often continuously with no cuts, following each member as they chip in their verdict on the truth. The Blu-ray version is pin sharp in its quality and the picture pops of the screen.Human nature is stubborn. Nobody likes to be told they are wrong, but this film shows what one man's courage to stand up for his belief can achieve. Arguments ensue and personalities clash, but all in the name of the truth.A quality drama which showcases some major talent and will grip you from start to finish. Superb.

12 Angry Men is as relevant now as it was in 1957. I won't spoil it because it will be treat for those who have not yet seen it. I will say, the performances from all involved are powerful yet measured and each character has their own personality that is built in very little screen time, something that eludes modern film makers.The film is presented in it's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The way it was filmed and meant to be presented. So it has black bars on the side of the screen to preserve all the picture information. For those who think this is wrong.... If the picture was formatted to fit a 16:9 (1.78:1) screen, information would be cut from the top and bottom of the screen. The black bars on the sides of a 1.66:1 aspect ratio are not covering anything up. It's simply how it was filmed. The best way to illustrate missing picture information in a film is to look at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and crop it to fit a modern TV standard. Please see the final image for an example.I opted for the older MGM Blu-ray release because the Criterion collection edition was unavailable but from what I can see, the picture quality is near identical. Also, for people who think the DVD version has a superior image, this is also wrong. There seems to be no use of DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) which dramatically softens an image, the grain structure is as it is supposed to be and stands out due to the age of the film, it's a lot sharper also.The disc has Mono DTS Master Audio tracks in English, French, Italian and German with subtitles for many languages. Oh, and it's in BLACK & WHITE! 😆 Gasp! Why hasn't it been colourised like Night of the Living Dead?! Because to add colour to a B&W film is sacrilege!Special features include;Audio commentary by film historian Drew Casper.Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Making 12 Angry Men.Inside the Jury Room.Original theatrical trailer.For the film alone it's worth it. Still number 5 in the all-time top films on IMDB! Should be 4 in my opinion because it's better than The Dark Knight.