Ron Silver is Alan Dershowitz, the brilliant attorney who takes on Claus von Bulow's murder conviction on appeal in "Reversal of Fortune," a 1990 film starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons, beautifully directed by Barbet Schroeder. The film, of course, is based on the notorious von Bulow case. Sunny von Bulow was a socialite who became brain dead, and her husband, Claus, was accused of injecting her with insulin in an attempt to kill her. Sunny lived in a coma for nearly 28 years.

Sunny (Close) herself narrates the story, beginning when Claus (Irons) calls Dershowitz and asks him to take his appeal. Dershowitz takes the case and involves his law students (including a very young Felicity Huffman) in it.

It's all left pretty ambiguous - Sunny tells us that this is all we can know for now. Though von Bulow was found guilty of attempted murder at the first trial, Dershowitz won his appeal, and von Bulow was found not guilty at a second trial. After that, von Bulow moved to England. Since his daughter Cosima had taken his side in the case, Cosima's maternal grandmother disinherited her. In order to get her back in the will, von Bulow gave up any claim to Sunny's money.

Glenn Close is excellent as the unhappy Sunny - a woman beset by health and weight problems as well as drug addiction and her husband's infidelity. But the backbone of the story is the character of Claus, and here Jeremy Irons does a fantastic job and deservedly received an Oscar for it. He is cold, unemotional, snobbish, and really makes you wonder if he did it or not.

There are other good performances in the film, including that of Fisher Stevens as a supposed witness, the great Uta Hagen as Sunny's devoted maid, Christine Baranski as Claus' new girlfriend ("I told him, get the Jew," she tells Dershowitz),and Julie Hagerty as Alexandra Isles.

After the first trial, I transcribed an interview with one of the jurors, and boy, did he think Claus did it. Despite the second verdict, "did he or didn't he" is a shadow that will always hang over Claus von Bulow.

Barbet Schroeder's darkly comic murder mystery 'Reversal of Fortune' was actually better than I thought it would be. It surrounds a social climber Claus Von Bulow (Jeremy Irons - Lolita) who is Charged and convicted with the double counts of attempted murder on his obnoxious and drunken wife Sunny Von Bulow (Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction) with insulin. Claus needs a lawyer to appeal so he contacts a stereo-typical Jewish lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, played incredibly by Ron Silver. Alan takes on Claus' case even though he believes him to be guilty and Alan and his team try to prove him innocent. Glenn Close gives a small but engrossing performance in this as the not so sympathetic victim while Jeremy Irons steals the entire film with his creepy and neurotic yet brilliant and amazing performances as the could-be murderer Claus. The screenplay is really solid and although kind of predictable offers nice thrills and very dark humor. 'Reversal of Fortune' rightfully won Jeremy Irons the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. If you want something kind of out-there be sure to rent 'Reversal of Fortune' one of these days. Grade: B

The saga of Sunny Von Bulow has mystified those fascinated with the lifestyles of the rich and miserable since long before she went into that diabetic coma. Glenn Close narrates, as if from beyond the grave (or at least over the rainbow, having discovered bluer skies in sleep) the story of her seemingly fairy tale existence that starts off coldly, with the camera going far above the estates where there's a cold air of no emotion rising off of them. The story surrounds attorney Alan Derkowitz's efforts to clear her worldly husband Klaus (the Oscar Winning Jeremy Irons) of attempted murder. While the law students he works with have different ideas of his guilt or innocence, Silver reminds them that as the defense attorney, their job is to give the inkling of doubt whether they like the client or not.

Irons is a combination of charming, creepy, funny and loving, so there is a benefit of doubt there, even though I was never quite sure. Not yet famous outside of the theater, Christine Baranski is coolly elegant as Klaus's latest conquest, with Julie Hagerty appearing in an unforgettable cameo as "Dark Shadows" star Alexandra Isles who was his mistress. Every detail shows that the world of the ultra rich is perhaps even more miserable than being poor, with Close showing Sunny's frailties, insecurities, anger, fear of showing love (even to her own children) and ultimate acceptance of her fate, as if living death through a coma freed her soul from her earthly woes. Ironically, when Sunny Con Bulow did pass away, it was very little fanfare, only a footnote towards this movie and the trial that inspired it. The glamorous look it takes on prevents it from looking as if it was made for TV, although references to the sad lives of other poor little rich girls (all documented in TV movies) is sadly obvious.