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IMDbPro

Hostile Witness

  • 19691969
  • GPGP
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
458
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
135,097
32,311
Hostile Witness (1969)
Drama
Ray Milland directed himself as a barrister whose daughter is killed in a "hit-and-run" accident. When his neighbor is also killed, evidence points to the barrister as a murderer.Ray Milland directed himself as a barrister whose daughter is killed in a "hit-and-run" accident. When his neighbor is also killed, evidence points to the barrister as a murderer.Ray Milland directed himself as a barrister whose daughter is killed in a "hit-and-run" accident. When his neighbor is also killed, evidence points to the barrister as a murderer.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
458
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
135,097
32,311
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Ray Milland
    • Writer
      • Jack Roffey(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Ray Milland
      • Sylvia Syms
      • Felix Aylmer
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Ray Milland
    • Writer
      • Jack Roffey(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Ray Milland
      • Sylvia Syms
      • Felix Aylmer
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 28User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos16

    Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland and Sylvia Syms in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Richard Hurndall in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland and Sandra Tallent in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland and Ewan Roberts in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Raymond Huntley in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Sylvia Syms in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Sylvia Syms in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Ray Milland in Hostile Witness (1969)
    Felix Aylmer in Hostile Witness (1969)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ray Milland
    Ray Milland
    • Simon Crawford - Q.C.
    Sylvia Syms
    Sylvia Syms
    • Sheila Larkin
    Felix Aylmer
    Felix Aylmer
    • Justice Osborne
    Raymond Huntley
    Raymond Huntley
    • John Naylor
    Geoffrey Lumsden
    • Major Hugh Beresford Maitland
    Norman Barrs
    • Charles Milburn
    Percy Marmont
    Percy Marmont
    • Justice Matthew Gregory
    Dulcie Bowman
    Dulcie Bowman
    • Lady Phyllis Gregory
    Ewan Roberts
    Ewan Roberts
    • Hamish Gillespie
    Richard Hurndall
    Richard Hurndall
    • Supt. Eley
    Ronald Leigh-Hunt
    Ronald Leigh-Hunt
    • Dr. Wimborne
    Sandra Tallent
    • Joanna Crawford
    • (as Sandra Fehr)
    Edward Waddy
    • Usher
    Maggie Rennie
    • Julia Kelly
    • (as Maggie McGrath)
    Ballard Berkeley
    Ballard Berkeley
    • Clerk of Court
    Julian Holloway
    Julian Holloway
    • Percy
    Harold Berens
    • Rosen
    Harry Fielder
    Harry Fielder
    • Sailor at Docks
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ray Milland
    • Writer
      • Jack Roffey(screenplay) (play)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Ray Milland returned to the theater for the first time in many years when he starred in Jack Roffey's play on Broadway (where it was as big a success as it had been in London). Milland enjoyed his experience so much that he determined to make a film of it, with himself directing. However, the film was a big flop; although made in 1968, it got no British release until 1970, when it was critically derided.
    • Quotes

      Judge: The jury, in their wisdom, have found you not guilty. When you have recovered from your surprise, you may go.

    User reviews28

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    Solid, but just too stiff and photographically dull to give it anything worthwhile
    Hostile Witness (1968)

    When Hollywood was shifting to a new mode of movie-making, Britain was apparently still able to make what you might call a routine, early 1960s styled film. And no wonder, with old school Ray Milland as both leading actor and director. It's a modern England, including some terrific Mod fashion on the women (and nice suits on the men, to be fair). But this is a relatively stiff affair, and for a 1968 film, rather old fashioned, pleasurable and unexceptional.

    It's worth adding, quickly, that this is a dull film cinematically, too. It's widescreen of course (not a made for television movie) but it's lighted as if for t.v. (low contrast ratio) and the camera is functional, rarely or never an active presence, or even a creative one. This I blame on Milland as much as the cinematographer. It frankly kills even the best scenes, which are blasted with light in an unrealistic and dulling way. Sad. But if you know Milland, who can sometimes be interesting (if never exciting), it makes sense--he's a stiff, snotty type, at least on screen.

    But he's not a bad actor, and if there is one consistent strength, in acting, it's actually the director. Which is fair enough. And there is the plot, which I think is supposed to sustain us, even if it's doled out painfully slowly. The curiosity is the sudden death of what might have seemed a potential main character, the beautiful (and well dressed) daughter of the leading man, high powered lawyer Simon Crawford (Milland). You get the sense in this film (more than his few others he directed) that he is aware of Hitchcock's later films (post-Psycho era). As a fellow Brit (Milland was Welsh), there was a commiseration, no doubt (same era, same sense of drama within a relatively false presentation). And as a crime film replete with ordinary folk overwhelmed by terrible facts.

    But as a director, Milland is no Hitchcock, which they probably both realized in the rather terrific "Dial M for Murder" which was directed by one master and acted by the other (in one of his best performances). The plot, the strength of the movie, is laid out mostly through drawing room (or law office) conversations. It's slow going, if somewhat rigorous in logic. Milland's stiffness is better suited to the second half of the movie, where he is in the formality of the courtroom. In the end, this is a courtroom drama, with all its argument-based back and forth. The logic is stretched by the end however, with a showdown of shouting convictions and then a last minute surprise (the last ten seconds of the movie) and it's almost laughable.

    There are so many better movies, I'd skip this one. To say it's solid on some old-fashioned level isn't really a defense. There's little here to lift it up, very little.
    helpful•6
    1
    • secondtake
    • Jun 8, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 28, 1970 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Fientligt vittne
    • Filming locations
      • Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Caralan Productions Ltd.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 41 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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