Orson welles stars in this 1950s crime drama based on the novel by meyer levin, which in turn is based on a real legal case that took place in 1920s chicago. Two wealthy law students, judd steiner dean stockwell and arthur strauss bradford dillman, decide that they can get away with committing the perfect murder. They kidnap and kill the teenage son of a millionaire, but a pair of spectacles left at the crime scene leads to them being identified as the murderers. Their families hire america's top lawyer jonathan wilk welles a known opponent of the death penalty to defend them in their trial, and wilk goes on to make american legal history by successfully arguing in favour of a life sentence rather than the pair's execution.