Overview: A man is found guilty and sentenced to death of a thirteen year old girl but the governor declares that the trial was unfair which leads to the murder of the accused by a lynch mob.

DVD Verdict: Governor John Slaton (Jack Lemmon) destroys his political career by commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment, & has to leave Georgia due to the fall-out of sparing the life of a man who is apparently innocent. The public still wants Jewish blood, & a lynching party prepares for the film's climax.

An incredible array of supporting cast populate this epic (William H. Macy, Kevin Spacey, Cynthia Nixon, Loretta Devine, many others you'll recognize by face even if not by name).

Basically, 'The Murder Of Mary Phagan' is such a simple, straightforward tale of bigotry in America, and insists so strongly on its moral lessons, that it ends up being too mawkishly instructive to take seriously. Despite the seriousness of the performances. And Peter Gallagher as Leo Frank plays it so dough-eyed that he comes off more as a wronged puppy rather than a wronged man! This is a Full Screen presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.