The greatest movie ever made..!

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

In New Jersey, hidden from camera range, ex-chorus girl Jill Esmond (as Yvette Gordon) kills her husband. She is charged with murder, but claims the gun went off accidentally. The case goes to jury trial. Despite being pushy and over-talkative, wealthy society matron Edna May Oliver (as Mrs. Crane) is accepted as a juror. She creates chaos in the courtroom. As you will surely guess, Ms. Oliver has a contrary opinion in the deliberation room. Oliver would be more amusing if the comedy worked. For example, have Oliver blurt out a question from the jury box and be overruled; an Oliver muttering and mugging after being scolded would be funnier. This was based on a play, so RKO and director Lowell Sherman presumably adhered to the original. It was titled "Ladies of the Jury" too, despite having a jury consisting of both "ladies and gentlemen." A better title would have been "Lady of the Jury", although even that is a judgment call.**** Ladies of the Jury (2/5/32) Lowell Sherman ~ Edna May Oliver, Jill Esmond, Helene Millard, Leyland Hodgson

I watched this film for one reason--Edna May Oliver. Cinephiles in the know adore this actresses films--even if she's pretty much forgotten today. However, this courtroom drama turned out to have a lot of shortcomings--mostly because the courtroom procedures were completely ridiculous. No courtroom on this planet is run this way and no judge is that stupid! For example, the lady on trial for murder CONSTANTLY interrupts the proceedings and even chases the jurors as they leave the box to deliberate--begging them to find her innocent!! As for the lawyers, the argue with each other openly in court and scream and yell at witnesses! And, a couple of the jurors make inappropriate comments during the trial that clearly would have had them disqualified. Once in the jury room, most of the jurors seemed much less intelligent than Mr. Potatohead! Now I don't mind a little leeway here, but all this ruined the film for me--most of this wasn't funny and just seemed dumb.Believe it or not, this totally brainless movie was reworked into the teleplay and movie "12 Angry Men"--a movie classic!!! I watch that instead, as despite having Oliver, "Ladies of the Jury" is junk.

LADIES OF THE JURY is a little programmer boosted by the performance of leading player EDNA MAY OLIVER as a Bostonian aristocrat who is allowed to ask questions of the woman on trial for her life (JILL ESMOND), accused of murdering her husband.Edna May is the only member of the jury who believes the woman "not guilty" on the first ballot. The balance of the courtroom scenes show how she turns everyone around to thinking differently.Surprisingly, GUINN ("BIG BOY") WILLIAMS, who livens up the proceedings with some characteristic humor and facial expressions, is not even credited in the film's cast. Among the supporting players, he's the one that stands out.Unfortunately, the script is uneven and the treatment is less than routine with the outcome assured. The abrupt ending makes no impact at all even though the last word goes to Miss Oliver.The humor is scanty and it's surprising to see KEN MURRAY cast as a flippant juror whose attempt at comedy is not really successful.

Before there was 12 Angry Men there were several women on juries in other states, several in this particular film led by the formidable Edna May Oliver. In Ladies Of The Jury Oliver plays what she was in real life, a New England society woman who is very used to having her own way.With the Boston Brahmin name of Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane, Edna May Oliver gets chosen for jury duty and proceeds to wreak havoc on the criminal justice system with her imperious ways. Not only in her state which is apparently Massachusetts allows women on the jury back in the day, but also allows jurors to question witnesses which Oliver takes full advantage. Just like Henry Fonda she believes that defendant Jill Esmond is innocent, but the others are convinced that she took her husband's life. One by one she wins them over though her methods aren't exactly those of reason and logic.A fine group of character players make up the rest of the jurors and other roles. But Ladies Of The Jury is Edna May's show all the way and she makes the most of it. I wonder if Sidney Lumet who directed 12 Angry Men ever saw this comedy gem. Ladies Of The Jury is a B picture comedy gem, don't miss it if TCM broadcasts it again.