Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Director Billy Wilder succeeded where Alfred Hitchcock had failed ten years earlier with The Paradine Case (1947) in using the talents of actor Charles Laughton to create a compelling British courtroom drama with startling revelations and twists which entertains. Both films had exceptionally capable casts – this one features Tyrone Power accused of murder (in his last film) with Marlene Dietrich in the title role as Christine Vole his wife and only alibi – but Wilder’s source material (adapted by Larry Marcus from Agatha Christie’s play) was better and his efforts (which included writing the screenplay with Harry Kurnitz) weren’t hindered by a controlling producer like Hitch’s were (by David O. Selznick). Playing Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Power’s highly respected defense barrister) Laughton (The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)) earned the last of his three Best Actor Oscar nominations; his wife Elsa Lanchester (Come to the Stable (1949)) earned her second (and last) unrewarded Best Supporting Actress nominations as his doting nurse Miss Plimsoll. John Williams Henry Daniell (Laughton’s opponent in court) Ian Wolfe Norma Varden (whose character Power is accused of murdering) and Una O’Connor (reprising her Broadway role) are among those also in the cast. The film director Wilder Daniel Mandell’s Editing and Gordon Sawyer’s Sound Recording were all Oscar nominated.

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