Walter Matthau casts aside his usual comic persona to remind us of his oft-forgotten straight acting skills in this made-for-TV courtroom drama. We are so used to Matthau as the rubber-faced grumpy comedian that his stirring portrayal of a small-town lawyer defending a German PoW accused of murder is almost shocking in its adroitness and disciplined precision. The finely tuned script by Michael and James Norell is a big help, as is a fine supporting cast that includes Robert Carradine and Peter Firth.

Small town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, defends a Nazi prisoner of war against murder charges. Set during World War II, Cobb has to contend with the difficulties of defending the devil when the town's only doctor (Barnard Hughes) dies while at "Camp Bremen" in the fictitious town of Bremen, Colorado.