Everyone should remember that without this version, there wouldn't even be the 1957 movie or the 1997 version. Personally, I think they're all good versions since they have the same premise and they chose the actors wisely.

For those who don’t know, the old man, Joseph Sweeney, and the Foreigner, George Voskovec reprised their roles in the film version as well.

People who try to compare this live version with the two film versions are missing the point: 12 ANGRY MEN was WRITTEN FOR LIVE TELEVISION. Please consider that word "Live." It means NO RETAKES, NO STOPPING FOR MISTAKES. This was THEATER for the masses -broadcast in their living rooms. Under those circumstances, it is a genuine achievement. Trust me: SATURDAY NITE LIVE, with everyone reading from cue cards, is NOT live television!

Those comparing it unfavourably to the Fonda version should remember that this was filmed live for a medium in its infancy whereas movies were in their prime and made more deliberately.

Joe Sweeney, the "old guy," is in the original film, as well as George Voskovec. Westinghouse Studio. 1954. ❤

Dude, these 12 men put on a great show. I can't believe they did it live. Now that's what I call reality tv. I'd like to shake their hands. "How does it know all these things!"

The camerawork is actually outstanding. Dammit - so good, the staging and what they manage to capture and the whole thing is live in 1954. Amazing.

If Edward Arnold hadn’t died, I hope he would’ve been cast in the 57 film. Fantastic actor in everything he did.

Mr. Roper is the jury foreman! I never knew this version existed and makes you wonder how many other gems have been lost over time. Very interesting to watch and impressive as a good example of live theater. The 1957 film is still the best though. That cast was pure gold.

Fine dramas like this was the stuff of television's earliest days.

I never knew this live version existed. Thank you for posting.❤

I’d say the fact this was done live and all in one take gives it more realism than the ‘57 version. With a few stutters and interruptions here and there, it really feels a lot more realistic.

WoW!!!!! Never knew this version existed!! THANKS for posting!!

What a treat- fantastic for a live performance. I always loved how the foreign man is the most "American" of them all. As a high school civics teacher, I always showed the film version to my classes, and at each voting stage, I stopped the VCR (remember those/) and had the kids vote for themselves. I can think of some presidents who would have benefited from this experience...

Cummings won an award for Best Actor for his performance in this production. His is really the best performance. His voice and manner starts off shaky, but he slowly builds confidence as the discussion and argument goes on.

Did not realize this was up on KZfaq! Just chiming in to say this: The first half of this broadcast was all that posterity possessed, until a retired NYC trial judge died. Among his effects was a 16mm print of the entire telecast; he had requested it so he could use it for jury orientation. (This is my recollection from material I read when I watched the full telecast at the Paley Center.) As to live-tv: Sure it's a little under-rehearsed; the actors are a little rocky, and so are the cameras (each heavy pedestal camera had to be moved at precisely the right time to get specific shots; in some shots here you can see a lens turret from an adjacent camera poking into the frame). Maybe some of the deliberate pace has to do with actors waiting for cameras to hit their marks & the red light to go on. Very different world from now!)

When he folded the knife up and handed it over, I got chills.

Never seen the teleplay until today. There are differences in what the 57 film and this teleplay delve into, but both hold merit. I wouldn't put one above the other in any way and further would recommend that every American watch this. There are ideals and values here that people on all political sides have forgotten, things we maybe need to remember. Great teleplay. Absolutely great.

Brilliant. The greatest performance of 12 Angry Men ever done.

Astounding. This is the version I always imagined. I have a feeling it might be what R Rose hoped for too. Thank you for sharing this.

We who sought this out know full well the limitations of live TV. In fact that’s what’s fascinating.

What gets me, watching this, is it was broadcast just about 3 months before I was born. And it is a great rendition.

This is a hidden gem! It’s “How to win an argument 101.” Juror #8 starts out alone as the only not guilty verdict. By the end of the film he’s persuaded every one else to his side!

this was FANTASTIC! and very similar to the '57 version. but with that GREAT ensemble cast of Fonda, Lee j. Cobb, E. G. Marshal, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley and the others and directed by Sydney Lumet the '57 version just can't be beat. its one of those movies that should NEVER be remade. there's no need to. I liked the '57 version when they make the point that public defenders are sorely unmotivated in their defense of the poor. that part is missing here. but the LIVE dimension of this version gives it a REAL quality missing in the theatrical version. never seen it before. thanks!

I've seen this play many times -- including another TV version and the two movie versions. It gets better and more relevant every time I see it. It should be "required watching" in this anything-goes social media age.

I like how the actor who played Juror 5 played his part. Very timid and shows that the character has been through a lot growing up in the slums.

One of the greatest movies I have ever seen in my life.

thank you very much for sharing this movie. It is one of my favorites

I watched this so many times I remember seeing it in school and been the only one in class payatenion I miss English class

Incredible! I'm glad this copy, the original film how it was first put together for TV, still exists. The movie is iconic, of course, but it's polished. This feels more real, you know? The jurors have less distinctive features by which the viewer can identify them, they do look like 12 random people picked for the jury duty.

12 Angry Men was broadcast live on the CBS program Studio One in September 1954. A complete kinescope of that performance, which had been missing for years and was feared lost, was discovered in 2003. It was staged at Chelsea Studios in New York City.

What a cast--plus an uncredited Vincent Gardenia as the bailiff

Thank you so much, it was great!

This is a masterpiece. I had to watch in highschool and I am glad I took the time to rewatch

Great Classic Movie!! Thank you for sharing!!

Many thanks for this! Had no idea this had been preserved so will be nice to see the original at last.

"how does he know all these things". I appericate this question, it feels like he is speaking to the audiance not to another actor.

25:49 Oopsie with the camera!

This was awesome. Thank you so much for posting it.

I was in this play in high school, as Juror #3 (the last guy to change his mind). Once in rehearsal we played the ending differently, where he stabs the other juror repeatedly as the lights faded out. It changed the whole tone.

I have to do an assignment for a class, and I thought that this could be boring but was really good..

I remember being very impressed with Bob Cummings. I had seen him act in re-runs of the sit-com “Love That Bob.”He played a bachelor photographer in Hollywood and Duayne Hickman played his nephew. I think he struck the right emotional notes-a decent man who wants to do right but not sure if he may wind up acquitting a murderer.

You have to bear in mind the limitations of live TV. You can't expect this to measure up to the movie version. The actors are operating on adrenaline, the photography and audio are constrained by the filming conditions. The director was Franklin J. Schaffner ('Planet of the Apes', 'Patton', 'Papillon', etc.). I did find it interesting how the actors made those 12 men distinctly different in ways from the film versions (even though two actors were in both - jurors 9 & 11) and how different dialogue / missing dialogue changed things.

thanks for posting

Edward Arnold took Lee J. Cobb's acerbic role; even at his age in 1954, he still had the voice and presence to deliver those lines; for anyone who doesn't know him, Google him and see what an impressive character actor he was, often working with directors like Frank Capra in You Can't Take it With You with Lionel Barrymore and Jimmy Stewart as one example.

We meet again, 240p

FANTASTIC!! Live television with this quality!!!!

Voskovec and Sweeney were reprising their roles for the '57 movie.

1957 version is great, but I really think this one is better

Cummings as #8 is great here- jittery, improvisational, manipulative, frightened- I think a really great performance.

Although the 1957 movie was far more superior, this one still had a good all star cast as well and one has to realize that is was a play too, perhaps all done in front of an audience with no second takes (I am sure that the 57 version did not need many takes either because of the very good character actors involved). This one also has great actors like Arnold, Tone, Sweeney, Voskovic, etc. It was nice to discover this lost version which looks like it was trashed. A classic!

Once you've seen the 1957 version with Lee J. Cobb, there's no comparison, AT ALL. I'm happy this original live TV version was found and thank you for sharing it. It doesn't hold a candle to the movie, though.

One of the dangers of live television was that television cameras would sometimes get a glimpse of one another. You can see a television camera here at 25:50.

This was GREAT!!!

Thank you. This is fascinating to watch in the light of the later, and greater, film. I am so glad they did the expanded film version with the (largely) different cast. It is clear that Rose realized that he hadn't quite got it right - a little like Sibelius reworking symphony No.5 and then...bang! A towering masterpiece. But, the lines apart, many of which are here, who would be without Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and Jack Warden...or E.G. Marshall? Oh well, the whole inimitable cast of the '57 film - and the wonderful score that went with it, here absent, of course...

Really enjoyed it.The 1957 film is one of my favourite films but this is good.I like Robert Cummings;he's always good.Nice to see Franchot Tone get a good part for a change too but I must admit you cant beat Lee J Cobb.Thanks for posting..

So far I've seen the '97 version once and the '57 version at least a dozen times. I like it that much. I was surprised to see this one ('54). I find it INTERESTING to compare the various versions. Thanks for posting it.

57 was the best,the intensity was tremendous, one of the best films ever made

love this version.....

Definitely finding time to watch the original!!!

This is superb

I wondered why one of the jurors looked familiar. Joseph Sweeny was in both the '54 and '57 movie. Honestly can't tell which one I like most. The original had to fit everything in an hour so it's kinda rushed but some of the jurors sound/look more legit. Either way this is great and thankfully it wasn't forever lost!

I gotta say I was born in the 21st Centenary and I never thought black & white could look so good Great clip I was amazed. :)

Old live television has a fair share of big names who started there. Sidney Lumet, who directed the feature film version of "12 Angry Men," started in live television, along with Norman Jewison, Alan Pakula, Rod Serling, and a bunch of others. Playhouse 90 productions like "Bang the Drum Slowly," "Requem for a Heavyweight," and some others, were also made into feature films. Paul Newman and Albert Salmi, were the actors in the live TV version of "Bang the Drum Slowly."

Wow. Powerful ending shot with the knife.

Not guilty. Reasonable Doubt. LESSON LEARNED: Stand up, stand out for what you believe in. Even if you don’t know how to explain it. It’ll come. Ask questions and build the case. Defend what you know. Defend your position with reason.

I had to watch this for a class and write a essay on it. It was really good.

Great teleplay!! Really quality writing and acting. Thanks for posting. Very interesting to see the original version and compare to how each situation was rewritten for the later film version. For instance, Joe Sweeney's character not having 20/20 vision in this one was not an issue because the witness showed up in court with bifocals. Interesting film.

I like the '57 version better. If I had to give both of them 1-10 stars, I'd give this one 8 stars and the '57 one 10.

To cantabrigidian who put this video up: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

ahhhhh this movie is so great

Joseph Sweeney and George Voskovec were in the famous 1957 film.

Juror #3 was on The Twilight Zone episode. He bet a man he couldn't go a year without talking.

Of course, the beauty of live television - early on, Robert Cummings goes up on a line - much like theater -they just keep moving :)

Superb for its time .all live.amazing.

The defense lawyer must have been dialing it in to miss some of these obvious observations.

What's interesting about this movie is it proves more that the "death penalty" for anyone for any reason whatsoever is just not a good idea, people get cleared literally every day, and it doesn't bring justice to anyone. Besides, isn't life in prison more of a punishment anyway since you have to live with it? And that way you can always be exonerated if found not guilty. And that's the thing about courts, they aren't looking for "guilt or innocence" you're just trying to prove that you "aren't guilty" not that you "are innocent"

Wow, never saw this. Will be fascinating to compare!

I love the story here. Everything that's put on display in one great work of art. In both this and the 1957 film, the most striking moment to me is when juror 10 goes off after the 9 to 3 vote in favor of acquittal. How all those who voted not guilty turn their backs on him one by one, all of them, but not only that juror 3 goes with them. Juror 3 who is shown repeatedly to be just as steeped in his own bias and emotion sees this kind of hatred displayed by juror 10 to be just as wrong as everyone else sees it. And though it's generally unfair to compare this version and that version directly, this is one moment that there is a decisive better between them when juror 4, in this version, is decidedly more confrontational than in the 1957 film. In either case, juror 10 is clearly shown to be believed severely in the wrong even by both the other jurors who voted guilty alongside him. This is one of my favorite moments in the story.

I much prefer this ending to the film version - feels more realistic and less Hollywoodized.

This is like my vinal, I love these old shows

18:47- "Now that you've seen part one of '12 Angry Men', let's turn to our Westinghouse program, and Betty Furness......'Which One Are the New Arrivals'? Can YOU tell, Betty?"/(standing near woman holding twin babies, and a new Westinghouse washer/dryer combo) "I certainly can! Even though these darling babies were delivered only a few weeks ago, THESE 'twins'- the NEW Westinghouse 'Laundry Twins'- were delivered to our studio this afternoon! And they're the most welcome addition to ANY household......!!"/"And remember-- 'You can be SURE...if it's WESTINGHOUSE."

Let me tell you Lee Cobb really brought it home tho. Big ups to all the a torn they were all great in all the movies. But you can really realize how good Lee Cobb , Earden and Begley truly were.

anybody here from counter arguments?

Incredible cast that needed more rehearsals.

Interesting variation from the 1957 film : the old man (Joseph Sweeney) is wearing glasses, whereas in the movie he had 20-20 vision.

welp, this is the first release of the story

12 Angry Men (1957) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i got Free from here WHATCH NOW ☛ bit.ly/300JXet 💜 `All Subtitle Available' ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！この日のライブ配信は、かならりやばかったですね！１万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）やっぱり人参最高！まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもの再編ありがとうです！この日のライブ配信は、かならりやばかったですね！１万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）やっぱり人参最高！まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！今後は気を付けないとね5). . !💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！ #この日のライブ配信は、 #かならりやばかったですね！ #１万人を超える人が見ていたもん（ #笑） #やっぱり人参最高！ #まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #垃圾

The meaning of REASONABLE DOUBT is a doubt especially about the guilt of a criminal defendant that arises or remains upon fair and thorough consideration of the evidence or lack thereof.

well, very interesting, i've watched the 57 version countless times, but this is more ..life like..the 57 version is just more slicker with more polished actors, both top notch movies,, think i'll download this one and watch with my pizza at my leisure, . Grimm gives it a four paws up,

Masterpiece

Franklin J. Schaffner, the director, went on to make the feature films, THE PLANET OF THE APES, PATTON and PAPILLON.

Wait wait wait... live tv used to actually be LIVE?! Consider my mind blown

（on TV）look how they respect the audience👍not like this days

Cummings is great here; brittle, skittish, uncertain, vulnerable, improvisational, instinctive. It's a completely different approach from Fonda's methodical certainty, and Fonda also had the advantage of re-interpretation, and of course, multiple takes. As for Cummings' acting chops, check out 1958's "Bomber's Moon" on Playhouse 90, also available to see here on YT. Robert Cummings was a fine actor, known primarily for his sweet and lightweight persona, but he had much more to give. The heck with Pauline Kael.

Walter Abel (Juror #4) takes charge (sorry, but Mr. Roper left a power vacuum) and becomes de facto jury foreman.

I never knew about this one

Classic

Bob Cummings played it a lot more tentative than Hank Fonda did. It works in a strange way.

Actually, 12 Angry Men was made to be performed live.. And this reference is to the theatre. This is a powerful play that was originally written for a live audience.. The way the characters move and interact is far more powerful and unique, the nonverbal aspects and use of choreography is lost I'm sure to a degree on TV. The stage allows all the characters to be seen simultaneously .. Less language is used and much more body language.. The silence is powerful and each character has a silent shift. You can't capture this on TV.. The stage is the only place where you can see the entire scene fully transpiring.