The film is based on a play by Reginald Rose (1920-2002), who was an American film and television writer. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, he "was known for exploring complex social and political issues in teleplays for many of early television’s best dramatic series, including Studio One, for which he wrote Twelve Angry Men (1954)." He was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for the cinema adaptation of Twelve Angry Men, directed by Sidney Lumet in 1957 (it was Lumet's first feature film).
The cast includes Henry Fonda (1905-1982), an Academy-award winning actor, who co-produced the film with Reginald Rose. Henry Fonda also starred in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Fort Apache (1948) and later in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his part as Juror 8 in Twelve Angry Men. Juror 1 was played by Martin Balsam, number 5 by Jack Klugman, and number 3 by Lee J. Cobb.
When it first came out, a New York Times critic called it : "a taut, absorbing and compelling drama that reaches far beyond the close confines of its jury room setting".
He added : "Director Sidney Lumet, who is making his debut in the movie medium with 12 Angry Men, and Boris Kaufman, an Academy Award-winning camera man, made expert use of a superb cast, which is ingeniously photographed in what normally would have been static situations."
Indeed, according to a review of the film on the British Film Institute website : "it’s a textbook example of how to exploit supposedly limited resources and use camera, lighting, framing and editing to make a classic film". The writer gives the examples of the "simple tracking shot" in which the jury is introduced or "the one facial shot of the scared, vulnerable – and never heard – accused boy…"
VOCABULARY
screenplay : scénario
directed : réalisé
feature film : long métrage
taut : tendu
compelling : fascinant
to reach far beyond : aller bien au-delà
confines : limites
indeed : en effet
a textbook example : un modèle
lighting : éclairage
framing : cadrage
editing : montage
tracking shot : travelling
scared : effrayé