The Dock Brief

The Dock Brief
The Dock Brief
	Cover of 1999 DVD version
Directed by	James Hill
Written by	Pierre Rouve
Based on	the play The Dock Brief by John Mortimer
Produced by	Dimitri de Grunwald
Starring	Peter Sellers; Richard Attenborough; Beryl Reid; David Lodge; Frank Pettingell
Cinematography	Edward Scaife
Music by	Ron Grainer
Production; company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studio
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA/UK)
Release date	20 September 1962 (UK);
Running time	88 minutes; 77 minutes (DVD)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Dock Brief (US title Trial and Error; also known as A Case for the Jury) is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name by John Mortimer (creator of Horace Rumpole).^[1]

Plot

In a cell under the Old Bailey, two men meet. One is Wilfred Morgenhall, a single barrister who never gets any cases and is overjoyed to have won this dock brief, the defence of an accused individual with no lawyer (at public expense). The other is his client Herbert Fowle, an insignificant man who just wants to plead guilty to murdering his wife and get it all over.

Flashbacks show that the wife was impossible to live with and Fowle, who avoided her as much as possible, hatched a plot to get rid of her by taking in a male lodger. The lodger found her amusing and attractive, until one day he went too far and Mrs Fowle threw him out of the house. In despair at his plot having failed, Fowle killed her.

Morgenhall role-plays various defences, in the process raising Fowle's will to fight. But when the case is called, he botches it and Fowle is found guilty. Morgenhall goes to visit him in prison, where he learns that Fowle has been reprieved because his defence was so poor. The two leave together, two lonely and inadequate men who have become friends.

Cast

Peter Sellers as Wilfred Morgenhall, barrister
Richard Attenborough as Herbert Fowle, the accused murderer
Beryl Reid as Doris Fowle, his late wife
David Lodge as Frank Bateson, the lodger
Frank Pettingell as Tuppy Morgan, solicitor
Audrey Nicholson as Morgenhall's girl (in flashback)
Tristram Jellinek as Mr. Perkins, the prosecutor
Eric Woodburn as Judge Banter
John Waite as clerk of the court
Patrick Newell as 1st warder
Henry Kay as 2nd warder
Frank Thornton as photographer at the Fowle wedding
Eric Dodson as examiner

Production

Pierre Rouve wrote the script. He opened up the play for cinema by using flashbacks.^[2]

Filming took place in March and April 1962 at Shepperton Studios in London.^[3] John Mortimer said that Peter Sellers wanted to play the role in a north county accent and the director James Hill had to coax him back "to what I felt were undoubtedly... southern origins" of his character.^[4]

Release

The film had its world premiere on 20 September 1962 at the Plaza Theatre in London's West End.^[5]

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records, the film made a profit of $141,000.^[6]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "In its original form as a television play, John Mortimer's little legal joke was something of a minor masterpiece. ... Pierre Rouve's adaptation has broadened and coarsened the original fabric and stretched it to take in flashback scenes which deaden by their explicitness where Mortimer was content to imply. James Hill's flat and literal style does nothing to offset the lack of imagination which is also apparent in Peter Sellers' performance as Morgenhall. He gives a brilliantly superficial sketch of a legal type, complete with resonant courtroom voice. But he is altogether too smooth and glib for the seedy and defeated dreamer who fails his last chance so ludicrously. Admittedly the balance between humour and compassion is difficult to strike, and Sellers is very funny; but his is a caricature rather than a characterisation. Richard Attenborough makes a close shot at the dim little murderer, but his performance is not altogether free of a suspicion of patronage, and he is handicapped by a grotesque make-up. In spite of its shortcomings, The Dock Brief remains a refreshingly original line in British comedy, and the quality of the dialogue shines like a good deed in a naughty world."^[7]

The Guardian called it "excellent".^[8]

The New York Times called it "a good second hand excursion into the realm of character comedy."^[9]

Accolades

Richard Attenborough was nominated for the 1963 BAFTA Award for best British Actor for his role.^[10]

Quotes

Morgenhall: "Now you're the only case I've got, and the most difficult."

References

^ "The Dock Brief". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
^ Champ, John (29 March 1962). "Production". Kine Weekly. p. 16.
^ SELLERS DUE HERE TO PROMOTE FILM: By HOWARD THOMPSON. New York Times 13 Apr 1962: 28.
^ Mortimer, John. Clinging to the Wreckage. Penguin. p. 189.
^ The Times online archive 20/9/1962 page 2
^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ "The Dock Brief". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 135. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
^ Sellers as a barrister: Sympathetic failure at the Bar The Guardian (1959-2003); London (UK) [London (UK)]03 Dec 1962: 14
^ Screen: 'Trial and Error' at Beekman: Sellers Plays Lawyer in British Comedy Attenborough Portrays Cheerful-Wife Killer By BOSLEY CROWTHER. New York Times 17 Nov 1962: 17.
^ "Film | British Actor in 1963". BAFTA. Retrieved 15 February 2024.