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Witness to Murder (1954) More at IMDbPro »

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The Best non-Hitchcock Hitchcock! (spoilers), 19 July 2006

Author: karmacoupe from New York, Toronto

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

besides the obvious Rear Window storyline, all of the following in this movie are also signature Hitchcockian themes or devices . . . the sudden overhead shots during interiors for dialog transitions; the use of shadows (the darkness and the light); the wrongly persecuted (Stanwyck) trying to prove the truth; the inept police wanting to incarcerate the innocent person; the average working-class Joe (or Josephine) getting thrown into a sinister web by no fault of their own; the dramatically different stories within each rear window, i mean each door in the apt. building where the victim lived; the stair-climbing climax to the top of the cloister tower, i mean State of Liberty, i mean skyscraper.

not to mention fellow Brit George Sanders who features prominently in some of Hitch's biggest pre-50s films. and Then! there's even a cameo by Hitch himself! or at least an effective stand-in -- the super in Sanders building baring an obvious resemblance to Hitch's profile.

This is Bizarroworld Hitchcock.

it's The Woman Who Knew Too Much. . . . The Wrong Woman. . . . Saboteur-ess -- withthe opening scene being the crime, and the only person who knows the truth being committed / convicted by the police, with no 'authority' to turn to (except, perhaps, the highest one), and the climax up a long flight of stairs (and then a ladder!), and evil (the bad guy) falling off to his death (down to hell) with a nice direct overhead shot.

It's the Spellbound amnesia, but instead of Dali, the lead character is a surrealist painter. It's Shadow of a Doubt with Sanders playing the suave and 'angelic' Uncle Charlie / Joseph Cotton role.

not to mention the whole anti-fascism angle that ran through most of Hitch's '30s and '40s films.

this has gotta be one of the most Hitchcockian movies ever made that wasn't made by Hitchcock. almost like a "lost Hitchcock".

i'd love to know the backstory on this film -- whether it was a cash-grab rip-off, or a loving homage. the script directly acknowledges the TV show Dragnet at one point, which makes me hope the portly superintendent was a nod to Sir Alfred.

this is either a heck of a forgery, or a heck of a tribute. but either way, it's a heck of a film.

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