One of the all-time classic courtroom dramas, starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb and Ed Begley, 12 Angry Men airs next week on Sky Cinema 1.  I know some people refuse to watch black and white film these days but really, if you’re one such, you are closing the door on a heap of riveting drama and entertainment.  Please put aside your prejudices and enjoy one of the best written, best directed and most engrossing films of the last 50 years.

The film is notable not just for its entertainment value.  It was director Sidney Lumet’s debut movie.  It was the first and only film produced by star Henry Fonda and screenplay writer Reginald Rose.  But perhaps its most famous attribute is that for all but three minutes of the film, the action takes place in a single room: the jury room where the 12 angry men deliberate the evidence in a murder trial.

On its release, A. H. Weiler wrote in his review of the film for The New York Times: "It makes for taut, absorbing, and compelling drama that reaches far beyond the close confines of its jury room setting," and of the twelve men: "their dramas are powerful and provocative enough to keep a viewer spellbound."

During the course of the jurors’ deiberations, Lumet progressively increases the feeling of claustrophobia in the room by moving from a camera angle above eye level, using wide-angle lenses, to a much lower angle using lenses of longer focal lengths to shoot all the characters in close-up.

* 12 Angry Men, Sky Cinema 1, 6.10pm Tuesday 10 October