TONY MARSH ASKED:
>>> "Any chance you'll ever find the mock ABA trial?" <<<
DAVID VON PEIN REPLIED:
I doubt it. But I'd very much like to have a copy of that 1992 ABA mock
trial (if any video version even exists). I have no idea if it was
recorded on film or videotape or not.
Another "trial" program that is quite good and intriguing is Larry
Buchanan's 1964 courtroom movie, "The Trial Of Lee Harvey Oswald" (not to
be confused with the Lorne Greene/Ben Gazzara 1977 TV movie of the same
title).
Buchanan's '64 film is quite interesting. And the most interesting aspect
of it (to me) is the timing of when it was filmed. It was made within
weeks or months of the assassination, and debuted in a Milwaukee theater
(incredibly) on April 22, 1964, which was a point in time when the Warren
Commission hadn't even come close to finishing its investigation.
I've watched the Buchanan film several times, and about the only really
blatant error that I remember seeing in the movie is when the prosecutor
elicits testimony from a witness that indicated that all three of the
bullets that were fired by Oswald during the assassination were recovered
and were in evidence at the trial.
But even that error is an understandable one from the filmmakers' POV, due
to the lack of additional information about Jim Tague's wounding and the
SBT, which is info that Buchanan did not have by the time his low-budget
film was rushed into theaters in April of '64.
All things considered, Buchanan's "trial" film is remarkably accurate in
most of the details. And one of the witnesses in the film is played by
James Altgens. (He doesn't play himself, however.)
The DVD of Buchanan's film is still in print and available at Amazon (as
of this writing anyway). I have this DVD, but I can't take the VOD files
off of the disc, due to the copy protection device that's attached to it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CG8H1?ie=UTF8&tag=dvsre-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0000CG8H1