I, the Jury

Originally filmed in 3D; but, by the time it opened, 3D had lost favor among audiences, and many first run engagements, as well as most second run engagements, opted to offer it in the standard 2D version.

The film's opening title card reads: "Victor Saville Presents Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury." Although a HR production chart noted that this film was being shot in color, an earlier 16 Mar 1953 HR news item noted that the picture was being shot in the Dunning 3-D black & white process. The film was shot and released in black and white and in 3-D; however, the viewed print was flat. The screen credit for Harry Essex reads as follows: "Written for the screen and directed by Harry Essex." The opening title cards also include a credit for actors Tani Seitz and Dran Seitz as "The Seitz Twins." The film features intermittent narration by Biff Elliot as "Mike Hammer." I, the Jury marked the first feature film to be based on the "Mike Hammer" character or a novel by Mickey Spillane, and the feature film debut of television actor Biff Elliot. The film was the first production of Victor Saville's company, Parklane Pictures, Inc. According to an article in LAT, Saville bought the screen rights for I, the Jury and another Spillane novel for $230,000. Following I, the Jury, Saville and his company produced two additional films based on Spillane novels, The Long Wait in 1954 and Kiss Me Deadly in 1955 (see entries). Correspondence in the file on the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library indicates that the MPAA urged the producers to change "Kalecki's" illegal business from drug trafficking, and also required that Hammer shoot "Charlotte Manning" in self-defense, rather than out of revenge. LAT and HR news items include Carole Thurston, Lester Sharpe, Bud Starke, Gilbert Perkins , Wally Rose, Juan Duval, Lou Smith and Sailor Vincent in the cast, but their appearance in the picture has not been confirmed. Modern sources add Roy Engel, Frank Richards and Jack Stang to the cast. The film was shot mostly on sets at Samuel Goldwyn Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, CA. Mike Hammer's office scenes were filmed at the Bradbury Building at the corner of Broadway and W. Third Street in downtown Los Angeles. When I, the Jury opened, in 3-D, on 21 Aug 1953 at the Criterion Theatre in New York City, it earned $10,000 the first day, a non-holiday box-office record, according to the 24 Aug 1953 MPD. For additional information on author Mickey Spillane and the "Mike Hammer" series, see the entry for the 1954 Warner Bros. film Ring of Fear and consult the Series Index. Kiss Me Deadly, a 1955 Parklane Pictures film featuring Ralph Meeker as Hammer, was also presented by Saville (see entry). In 1957, Parklane Pictures released another film based on the Hammer character titled My Gun Is Quick (see entry). Other films based on Mike Hammer include the 1963 Fellane Productions film titled The Girl Hunters, directed by Roy Rowland and featuring Spillane as Hammer (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70) and the 1983 American Cinema Productions film I, the Jury, directed by Richard T. Heffron and starring Armand Assante. A 1956 television series by Revue Studios, titled Mike Hammer, featured Darren McGavin, and two additional television series, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1984-1987) by Columbia Pictures Television and Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997), both featured the actor Stacy Keach, Jr. (AFI Catalog)

Debut of actress Tani Guthrie.

Original literary work: "I, the Jury", novel by Mickey Spillane, Dutton & Company, New York, 1947, 218 pages.

Finnish censorship visa # 39916.