A Fever in the Blood is a 1961 Warner Bros. American courtroom drama directed by Vincent Sherman with music by Ernest Gold, cinematography by J. Peverell Marley and editing by William H. Ziegler.

After a tense moment of reflection, Judge Hoffman orders the testimony stricken from the record, but he denies the request for mistrial.

But when delegates at the party's state convention consider their gubernatorial nominee, they reject the zealous Callahan in favor of Judge Hoffman, the quiet man of conscience.

Sherman criticized the casting of television actors such as Jack Kelly and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. because he felt that their presence on screen would "cause audiences to regard the film as merely an enlarged TV program.

[2] Studio head Jack L. Warner wanted to grant television actors such as Kelly, star of the series Maverick, a chance to appear as one of the leads in a feature film.

"[3][4] In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times, critic Philip K. Scheuer wrote: "Remember when movies told stories?

"[5] Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News wrote: "The political atmosphere seems authentic, but some of the moves in the game are too patently contrived to convince an audience that it is witnessing a real-life drama.