Courtroom dramas have been popular for a long time. Starting off as radio shows in the 1930's, television soon followed suit in the late 1940s, when the medium overtook radio as the most popular at home past-time. It wasn't long before the genre was also well established on the silver screen, with the late 1950s and early 1960s being particularly fruitful. In fact, half of the entries on this list are from that period, including four of the top five ones.
Some of the films listed here are purely fictional, whilst others are based on real-life trials. Some even blend fact and fiction to great effect and there can be no denying that a well-made courtroom drama, despite its static environment due to its often one location limitation, can be true edge-of-your-seat stuff. Below, we have tried to compile twelve of the genre's most lasting and gripping examples.
