12 Angry Men (1957)

Credit: 12 Angry Men

We’ve all gotten them and, no matter your lifestyle, most of us share the same immediate sense of dread upon opening the envelope. Of course I’m talking about jury summons, one of the small prices we pay for civil liberty and so forth. Anyway, director Sidney Lumet attempts to show us the wonders that jury dodgers could be missing out on in 12 Angry Men (view trailer here). As the title implies, this 1950’s classic focuses on twelve male jurors as they struggle to find a verdict on a murder trial involving an unassuming young man and his fate.

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Credit: The Lost Weekend

There is an other-worldly quality to Billy Wilder’s 1945 The Lost Weekend.  This comes in part from the theremin music playing behind the “e-string of the violin”, something that modern audiences will associate with science fiction films like The Day the Earth Stood Still. But the feeling runs deeper than that as well; like Klaatu, Don Birnam, an aspriring writer and professional alcoholic, is adrift in a world not his own.