Gangsters and Philantropists

Anatomy of a Murder

July 1959 •English

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Rosen aus dem Süden

January 1954 •German

Tom Horn

March 1980 •English

A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.

The Sword and the Balance

February 1963 •French

Three young men are suspected of kidnapping and murdering a little boy. Most likely, two of them are really involved, but one is not. All of their pasts are questionable, riddled with violence and controversy. Neither the police nor the court can decide how to solve that puzzle.

A Time to Kill

July 1996 •English

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

A Trap

May 1965 •Japanese

When her only relative, her elder brother is accused of robbing and murdering an old woman loan-shark, pretty, young Kiriko travels from her home in Kyushu to Tokyo to get Japan's top lawyer to defend her brother. Unfortunately her naive idealism is shattered when the lawyer refuses to take the case based on her insufficient funds. What follows is a long determined revenge plot that sees the heroine become a Tokyo bar hostess and worse to punish the lawyer. The plot thickens with another murder mystery and a sleuthing reporter.

Game On

May 2016 •Polish

Fine-arts student Zosia is a young daredevil mural painter who enlivens Warsaw with lovely graffiti. She lives with her mother Roma and grandmother Romy in a beautiful villa that has come under threat from property developers. Romy has long lost the deeds to the house. Will the women lose their home? And will they want to stay there once Roma finds new love and granny reveals a secret from long ago?

Not Guilty!

December 1926 •English

Puffy and his girlfriend want to get married by a judge at the courthouse. However they go to a wrong door and he's mistaken for a defendant in a murder trial.

Neither Seen Nor Recognized

April 1958 •French

In a small French village, everything would be quiet if the local wildlife cop was not being ridiculed by a smart poacher.

Ivy

June 1947 •English

When Ivy, an Edwardian belle, begins to like Miles, a wealthy gentleman, she is unsure of what to do with her husband, Jervis, and her lover, Dr. Roger. She then hatches a plan to get rid of them both.

A Murder of Crows

July 1999 •English

In the wake of a career-ending scandal, disgraced lawyer Lawson Russell moves to Key West, where he befriends aging novelist Christopher Marlowe. After letting Russell borrow his latest manuscript, Marlowe dies of a heart attack. When Russell publishes the dead man's manuscript under his own name, he makes the best-seller list—and unwittingly becomes the prime suspect in the investigation of a grisly multiple homicide.

Helter Skelter

April 1976 •English

The investigation of two horrific mass murders leads to the capture and trial of the psychotic pseudo-hippie Charles Manson and his "family".

The Ghost & Mr. Chicken

January 1966 •English

Luther Heggs, a typesetter for the town newspaper, pitches an idea for a story about a local haunted house where a famous murder/suicide occurred 20 years earlier. After the editor assigns Luther to spend one night alone in the mansion, Heggs has a number of supernatural encounters and writes a front page story that makes him a hometown hero...until the nephew of the deceased sues him for libel.

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt

May 2004 •English

A terror is stalking the land: people are disappearing daily, their bodies appearing covered in savage gashes coupled with precise surgical cuts. The legend of the 'Werewolf of Allariz' spreads across the land like wildfire. When Barbara (Elsa Pataky) falls in love with travelling vendor Manuel Romasanta, she is at first besotted with him - but soon begins to be suspicious of him. What has happened to her sister, who - after being escorted by Romasanta to the city - seems to have disappeared forever.

Dust Be My Destiny

September 1939 •English

Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, leading to the older man's death due to a weak heart. Joe and Mabel go on the run as he thinks no-one would believe a nobody like him.

A Son Comes Home

July 1936 •English

A mother experiences the torment of discovering that her own son is a killer.

Friend of the Friendless

October 2020 •English

Law professor Chris Gallivan examines the career of one of our country's best defence lawyers, Greg King. Through the lens of King's most sensational case – the defence of Ewen Macdonald for the murder of Scott Guy - Gallivan also raises serious questions about the state of criminal justice in New Zealand today.

A Place in the Sun

June 1951 •English

A young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.

The Killer Is Loose

February 1956 •English

A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.

The Hunt For the BTK Killer

October 2005 •English

After 31 years at-large, detectives in Wichita, Kansas hone in on the serial killer known as BTK.