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Witness for the Prosecution
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Witness for the Prosecution
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- 1957
- Billy Wilder
- 111 mins
- U
Summary
Billy Wilder's screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's courtroom drama, starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton. Against the advice of his doctors, ailing barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts starts to take an interest in the case of murder suspect Leonard Vole, who is pursued by the police after the death of a rich widow.
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Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Adrian Turner
This gleefully enjoyable film version of Agatha Christie's play from director Billy Wilder stars Tyrone Power (in his last completed role) as the husband on trial for murder and Marlene Dietrich as his wife testifying against him. The whole plot is an intricate, slightly leaky bag of tricks, with a trademark "surprise" ending. But to conceal the cracks, Wilder throws up a variety of smokescreens and provides the broadest stage imaginable for Charles Laughton's barrister - a performance of epic extravagance, invention and downright hamminess. Laughton's little foibles - the trick with the monocle, the flask of cocoa, his rudeness to his nurse (a character invented by Wilder and his co-writers and played to perfection by Laughton's real-life wife, Elsa Lanchester) - take you away from the plot and into the mind of this wily operator. They really don't make actors like him any more, and there aren't that many Dietrichs, either. In order to give the film kudos on a par with The Mousetrap, the producers refused to allow Dietrich to be nominated for an Oscar because a vital plot detail would have to be betrayed in her citation. As both her director and her married co-stars were nominated, she was reported to be less than pleased. Twenty-five years later, Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr and Diana Rigg assumed the key parts for an enjoyable but less accomplished TV remake.
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8.4/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameLeonard Stephen VoleTyrone PowerChristine Helm VoleMarlene DietrichSir Wilfrid RobartsCharles LaughtonMiss PlimsollElsa LanchesterBrogan-MooreJohn Williams (1)MayhewHenry DaniellCarterIan WolfeMr MyersTorin ThatcherMrs Emily FrenchNorma VardenJanet McKenzieUna O'ConnorJudgeFrancis ComptonInspector HearnePhilip TongeDianaRuta Lee
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Crew
rolenameDirectorBilly Wilder
Details
Languages
English | German
Available on
video, DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Black and white
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