Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 8.4
Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder: a trial featuring surprise after surprise. Director:Billy Wilder |
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Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 8.4
Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder: a trial featuring surprise after surprise. Director:Billy Wilder |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Tyrone Power | ... | ||
| Marlene Dietrich | ... | ||
| Charles Laughton | ... | ||
| Elsa Lanchester | ... | ||
| John Williams | ... | ||
| Henry Daniell | ... | ||
| Ian Wolfe | ... | ||
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Torin Thatcher | ... | |
| Norma Varden | ... |
Emily French
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| Una O'Connor | ... | ||
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Francis Compton | ... | |
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Philip Tonge | ... | |
| Ruta Lee | ... | ||
It's Britain, 1953. Upon his return to work following a heart attack, irrepressible barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, known as a barrister for the hopeless, takes on a murder case, much to the exasperation of his medical team, led by his overly regulated private nurse, Miss Plimsoll, who tries her hardest to ensure that he not return to his hard living ways - including excessive cigar smoking and drinking - while he takes his medication and gets his much needed rest. That case is defending American war veteran Leonard Vole, a poor, out of work, struggling inventor who is accused of murdering his fifty-six year old lonely and wealthy widowed acquaintance, Emily French. The initial evidence is circumstantial but points to Leonard as the murderer. Despite being happily married to East German former beer hall performer Christine Vole, he fostered that friendship with Mrs. French in the hopes that she would finance one of his many inventions to the tune of a few hundred pounds. It thus does ... Written by Huggo
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
I'm not sure I have the ability to adequately praise this film. The original short story(rather unremarkable, actually)has been expanded into a magnificent example of Hollywood entertainment at its best. In addition to perhaps the finest line-up of character actors ever assembled(next to Cukor's David Copperfield, that is), we get Laughton and Dietrich at the top of their form. The person who criticised Lanchester's performance as "annoying" missed the point entirely. Miss Plimsoll is meant to be annoying! Also, what's with all the bad-mouthing of Tyrone Power? "Hammy"; "terrible"; "worst performance ever". These are the perceptive IMDb reviews? Only one of you got it right: it's hammy because Leonard Vole is the one acting, not Power! For 95% of the film, the character is dissembling, only showing his true colors at the end. Of course it looks hammy: Vole isn't a born actor like his wife. And to all those know-it-alls who called this film mediocre and predictable, I look forward to your upcoming film projects which I'm sure will be paragons of excellence and worthy to be set alongside classics of the golden age.