I caught this on Turner last night. I happen to be in the history business, in a way, and was surprised at how good this still was. Like most films-adapted-from-plays of the 30s and 40s, it never really transcends its stage origins, but I thought it dealt with the big issues of law, justice, morality, life and death in a way inconceivable in a politically correct age such as ours. We are much smaller people now. The conversation Holmes has with his wife while she lies dying in her bed is a masterpiece of really mature human communication, it's not sappy or sentimental, it's just heartbreaking in its honesty.<br /><br />The Justice Holmes of this film was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the son of the famous poet-doctor of the same name who wrote "Old Ironsides" and "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." The father and son are often confused. I was also delighted by Eduard Franz's underplayed portrayal of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice on the US Supreme Court, after whom Brandeis University was named.<br /><br />I didn't want this film to end, and will now look up the original stage play.