10 Classic Films That Were Shamefully Ignored At First

2. Twelve Angry Men

Probably the best courtroom drama ever, which stars Henry Fonda as a jury member who tries to convince a bunch of other jury members that they're being a little bit hasty in their willingness to condemn a potentially innocent man, apparently wasn't good enough for the general population when it was first released back in '57: despite ecstatic reviews, the film was a financial disaster and the studio, United Artists, lost lots and lots of money. So why did people choose to ignore this thing? Believe it or not, but the director's decision to shoot the movie in black and white is thought to have played a huge part in its non-success: whilst most movies at the time were shot in colour, 12 Angry Men presumably looked too "old-fashioned" for the hip audiences of 1957 and they skipped it. Once again, it took a television airing for people to release that they had been a wee bit prejudice. Ironic, hm?