THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA
(M.G.M.) \V HEN I saw The People Against O’Hara I was reminded of an idea that Bertrand Russell once advanced. If (he argued) the acquittal of the innocent is no less a public duty than the tondemnation of the guilty, it’s obvious that there should be two police forces, one to prove guilt and the other to prove innocence, and that in addition to a public prosecutor. there should bea public defender, of equal legal eminence. In this story such an arrangement might have. saved O’Hara (James Arness) from conviction. As it is, the proof of innocence is only secured when O’Hara’s lawyer, Jim Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), has laid down his life in the cause of justice.
The People Against O’Hara is the sort of film Hollywood has produced many times up to quite a good standard. They aren’t really. films of ideas, nor, I’m sure, are they meant to be. Yet I find that their situations beg to be thought about. In this. one O’Hara, a young man of doubtful character, is framed for murder. Uncooperative, he is unsuccessfully defended by.a tough but big-hearted lawyer who has apparently given up criminal practice because it led to bouts of drinking. In despair while drunk he attempts to bribe a witness who has sold himself to the prosecution. "The People"
of the title is somewhat ironical, since their guar- _ dians,- an ambitigus district attorney (John Hodiak) and the police, have fallen for the story of an interested perjurer. However, they come right after O’Hara’s conviction and co-operate with Curtayne in following the lead which he Should have discovered much sooner (this is a serious weakness in the story). Directed by John Sturges, this is in most respects a successful film of its kind, with plenty of tension, well maintained at the end, even though I found the story at this stage a little difficult to follow. Spencer Tracy’s Curtayne is a good piece of work which he sems to carry through with very little effort,
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19520516.2.38.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 671, 16 May 1952, Page 17
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338THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 671, 16 May 1952, Page 17
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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