The Vicious Circle

A Hungarian count discovers there is oil beneath. His land, and those of his neighbors. Most sell out without learning. Five Jewish families refuse. Their heads are accused of the murder of a girl of 14. Defense attorney Conrad Nagel has to battle against testimony in court that is contradictory and perjured, while key witnesses seem to have disappeared.

Ultimately based on a Hungarian play, the performances reflect this; they are very stagey. Also, it is shot almost entirely on one set; the exception is a different set at the beginning and end in which a man who has not spoken in decades is dying, and speaks at last. Frank Ferguson tells the other players he will explain why, and it's onto the story.

Given that the cast includes such practiced film actors as Fritz Kortner, Reinhold Schunzel, Philip Van Zandt, Lyle Talbot, and Edwin Maxwell, their performances are awful. It looks like they. Shot this immediately after the stage show closed and producer-director W. Lee Wilder made no effort to modulate them.