This movie is a classic courtroom thriller with an excellent, cozy mystery style resolution. It’s clever and surprising in all the right ways, and the ending is Hitchcockian in its drama while being more Film Noir in its style. For period courtroom dramas you can’t do much better than this.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Mysterious Affair At Styles by way of Anatomy of a Murder.
Setting: Courtroom Drama
Plot: Cozy Mystery
Tone: Noir Thriller
This is a dumb screwball comedy that works pretty well, all things considered. The mystery is nonexistant, but constantly changes its own rules and is very much not the point of the story. Instead, the draw of the film is the sheer audacity of the premise and jokes, hoping to keep a quick enough pace that its audience won’t raise an incredulous eyebrow at its nonsense. Its satire of the (relatively) famous detectives is less scathing commentary than it is silly caricature and as such it is an enjoyable, if forgettable, romp.
Closest comparison: It’s like Spaceballs by way of Clue: The Movie.
Setting: Mystery
Plot: Screwball Comedy
Tone: Dry Comedy
