| A Fever in the Blood | |
| Director: | Vincent Sherman |
| Screenplay: | Roy Huggins Harry Kleiner |
| Producer: | Roy Huggins |
| Starring: | Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Angie Dickinson Jack Kelly Don Ameche Ray Danton Herbert Marshall Rhodes Reason Robert Colbert Carroll O'Connor |
| Cinematography: | J. Peverell Marley |
| Editing: | William H. Ziegler |
| Music: | Ernest Gold |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. |
| Runtime: | 117 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
A Fever in the Blood is a 1961 Warner Bros. American courtroom drama directed by Vincent Sherman with music by Ernest Gold, cinematography by J. Peverell Marley and editing by William H. Ziegler. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by former lawyer William Pearson. The film stars Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Angie Dickinson, Jack Kelly and Don Ameche. Carroll O'Connor appears in his film debut.
Judge Leland Hoffman and district attorney Dan Callahan take a weekend hunting trip. Both men will seek their party's gubernatorial nomination. When socialite Paula Thornwell is found murdered in her posh estate, Callahan is summoned back to the city. Because of the high-profile nature of the case, Callahan handles the prosecution himself. The victim's estranged husband, industrialist Walter Thornwall, becomes Callahan's prime suspect. Mr. Thornwall is charged with murder and Hoffman is assigned to hear the case.
The pressures of the courtroom turn the affable Callahan into a ruthless, vindictive prosecutor, determined to win a conviction at any cost. During his testimony, police sergeant Michael Beers exclaims that Thornwall had once threatened his wife. The defense makes a motion for mistrial, triggering Callahan's immediate objection. After a tense moment of reflection, Judge Hoffman orders Beers' testimony stricken from the record, but he denies the request for a mistrial. The jury later finds Thornwall guilty, and Callahan appears free to obtain the gubernatorial nomination.
However, Thornwall's gardener is found to be the actual murderer when he is apprehended by police on a lesser crime. Callahan uses the gardener's confession to free Thornwall, motivated by political self-promotion. When delegates at the party's state convention consider their nominee, they reject Callahan in favor of Hoffman, the quiet man of conscience.
Director Vincent Sherman at first considered the story "old-fashioned...with dismal prospects." Screenwriter Roy Huggins agreed and attempted to update the script.
The film features a roster of Warner Bros. television contract players. Sherman criticized the casting of television actors such as Jack Kelly and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. because he felt that their presence on screen would "cause audiences to regard the film as merely an enlarged TV program."[1] Huggins also felt that the actors were miscast and that Zimbalist was too young for the role of the judge.[2]
Studio head Jack L. Warner wanted to grant television actors such as Kelly, star of the series Maverick, a chance to star in a feature film. Warner once commented that "naturally they want to get out of TV because the work is not easy. They want to get into features where they can have an easier occupation."[3] [4]
In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times, critic Philip K. Scheuer wrote: "Remember when movies told stories? 'A Fever in the Blood' tells a story; it is ALL story, a little like the kind, with political backgrounds, that Frank Capra used to do so well. ... The wind-up is pure fairytale—or pure Capra—but it sends you out with your faith restored, for the moment anyway, in the Great American Dream."[5]
Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News wrote: "The political atmosphere seems authentic, but some of the moves in the game are too patently contrived to convince an audience that it is witnessing a real-life drama."[6]
In the Chicago Tribune, critic Mae Tinee remarked: `"Some of the bargaining and manipulation behind the scenes is moderately interesting, but the final scenes, in which the best man wins in a walkaway, struck me as highly unconvincing."[7]