California Law Review (1998) - Lawyers, Law & the Movies: The Hitchcock Cases
Details
- article: Lawyers, Law & the Movies: The Hitchcock Cases
- author(s): Allen K. Rostron
- journal: California Law Review (01/Jan/1998)
- issue: volume 86, pages 211-1377
- publisher: California Law Review California Law Review
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Abstract
Legal scholars have finally begun to examine how movies and other elements of popular culture depict lawyers and law. Two books, Reel Justice and Legal Reelism, approach the intersection of law and film in different ways. Reel Justice concerns movies about lawyers and law, particularly those with significant trial scenes, but dwells on whether movies accurately portray legal reality. Legal Reelism discusses how movies can be considered "legal texts" reflecting themes and problems of legal theory, but largely avoids discussion of the critical issues surrounding interpretation of these texts. This review considers the approach taken in each book by looking closely at three films about criminal trials directed by Alfred Hitchcock: The Paradine Case, I Confess, and The Wrong Man. The treatment of Hitchcock's movies by film critics and scholars over the years reveals the fundamental similarity of the questions raised by interpretation of movies and the interpretation of more conventional legal materials such as statutes. The history of Hitchcock's movies also shows that interpretive issues cannot be overlooked if movies are truly to be treated as legal texts as suggested by Legal Reelism. Finally, the degree to which Hitchcock's works adhere to legal reality, the primary focus of Reel Justice's concern, becomes worthy of attention to the extent the realistic or unrealistic elements mark critical aspects of the films. Reel Justice and Legal Reelism should serve as powerful encouragement to further study of the relationship between law and film. Legal scholars have recently begun to ...
