Witness for the prosecution (film)

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1957 American courtroom drama film directed by Billy Wilder. It is based on the play of the same title written by Agatha Christie in which it was first brought to the screen as a 75-minute television production by the BBC in 1949.

It starred Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. The film, which has noir elements, depicts an English courtroom drama. Set in the Old Bailey in London, it is based on deals with the trial of a man accused of murder.

The film received positive reviews and had six Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor (Charles Laughton), would be one of his last film appearances, Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester), for best sound and best editing.

Plot

Sir Wilfrid Roberts (Charles Laughton), a somewhat elderly and heart-sick established barrister, agrees to defend Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), accused of murder, over the protests of his private nurse, Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester), since his doctor had recommended that he stay away from cases with a criminal component. Vole is accused of murdering Mrs. Emily French (Norma Varden), an elderly widow who had fallen in love with Vole, to the point of making him the primary beneficiary of her inheritance. Consistent evidence points to Vole as the murderer in the case.

When Sir Wilfrid talks to Vole's German wife, Christine (Marlene Dietrich), the lawyer discovers that, albeit in a very cold and self-absorbed way, Christine can provide an alibi for her client. However, he considers that this would be of little use to Vole's defense since it came from her own wife, who, on the other hand, cannot testify against her husband under English law. It is for this reason that Sir Wilfrid is greatly surprised when Christine is called as a witness for the prosecution at the trial, a surprise that is increased when she affirms and shows that she was already married to another man when she married Leonard and that, therefore, it cannot be considered legal wife of Leonard Vole.

After this first thrust, Christine delivers what seems like a coup de grace to Leonard, testifying that he had confessed to killing Mrs. French, and that it was his conscience that finally forced him to tell the truth. Leonard, totally bewildered and beside himself, does not understand how what he believes to be her loving wife betrays him like that, disproving all her claims that he was with her when Mrs. French was murdered.

When the trial is about to end and all seems lost for Vole, a mysterious lady contacts Sir Wilfrid who, for a small financial compensation, exchanges some letters written by Christine to a mysterious lover named Max. The "affair" Revealing the correspondence between Christine and her alleged lover gives Vole's wife many reasons to have lied, which ultimately is decisive for the jury finding Leonard not guilty and the judge acquitting him of all charges..

However, Sir Wilfrid is distraught over the verdict. His instincts tell him that everything has gone too orderly, too neat-"too symmetrical!". By chance, he and Christine are left alone in the room. She then takes the opportunity to tell him about her entire plan: how when she heard at first that his testimony was not very convincing, she decided to blame herself, only to later discredit herself as the culprit, and how she disguised herself to play the mysterious woman who he handed over the letters.

Admired for Christine's courage, Sir Wilfrid asks her why she didn't trust him to work together in her husband's defense, to which she matter-of-factly replies that she couldn't risk working with him, as that the lawyer believed Leonard innocent and she knew for a fact that he was guilty. To Sir Wilfrid's astonishment, Christine reveals to him that what she herself stated at trial is true: that Leonard came home later than she claimed and with blood on his clothes; that he confessed to killing Mrs. French and asked her for help; and that his letters were a fraud and Max never existed. Finally, when the lawyer asks her why she did it, she admits that it was because, despite her attitude, she loves Leonard above all else.

Leonard Vole appears at that moment and, already protected by the acquittal that frees him from being tried again, nonchalantly confirms what Christine has just said. At that moment, a young woman (Ruta Lee) appears and throws herself into his arms. When Leonard tells her that he is going away with the young woman, Christine discovers that Leonard has betrayed her, that her sacrifice is useless, and before allowing him to go away with another, she kills him with a knife in an attack. of fury. Sir Wilfrid, present throughout the scene, believes that justice has finally been done and that Christine did not murder Leonard, but that she executed him. Miss Plimsoll finally cancels Sir Wilfrid's holiday, realizing that he is unable to resist working on Christine's defense.

Cast

• Tyrone Power as Leonard Vole.
• Marlene Dietrich as Christine Vole/Helm.
• Charles Laughton as Sir Wilfrid Roberts.
• Elsa Lanchester as Miss Plimsoll.
• John Williams like Brogan-Moore, a lawyer working for Vole.
• Henry Daniell like Mayhew, Vole's attorney.
• Ian Wolfe like Carter, head of Wilfred's office.
• Torin Thatcher as Mr. Myers, the Crown Prosecutor.
• Norma Varden as Mrs Emily Jane French.
• An O'Connor like Janet McKenzie, Mrs French's housekeeper and a prosecutor's witness.
• Francis Compton as the judge.
• Philip Tonge as Inspector Hearne.
• Route Lee like Diana, Leonard's lover.

Recurring Cast

• Patrick Aherne as the room officer.
• Marjorie Eaton as Miss O'Brien.
• Franklyn Farnum as a senior lawyer.
• Bess Flowers as a viewer of the room.
• Colin Kenny as a jury.
• Ottola Nesmith as Miss Johnson.
• J. Pat O'Malley as the Shorts Salesman.
• Jack Raine as Sir Wilfried's doctor.
• Ben Wright as the lawyer reading the charges.

Production

In a flashback showing Leonard and Christine first meeting at a German club, she is wearing pants. A rowdy customer tears them down one side, exposing Dietrich's famous and renowned legs, starting a brawl. The scene required one hundred and forty-five extras, thirty-eight stuntmen, and $90,000.

At the end of the film, as the credits roll, a voiceover announces this:

The direction of the theater suggests for the entertainment of your friends who have not once seen the film is not discovered to anyone the unexpected end of Prosecution.

This ad is in keeping with the movie's publicity campaign: one of the movie's posters read: "You'll talk about it, but please don't tell the ending."

The effort to keep the ending a secret also extended to the cast. Billy Wilder did not give the actors the last ten pages of the script until it was time to record them. This secrecy may have cost Marlene Dietrich an Academy Award, as United Artists did not want to make any difference to the fact that Dietrich was the woman who gave the cards to Sir Wilfrid so as not to hint at the ending.

Reception

The film received very good reviews. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In television guides it received four and a half stars out of five; the reviewer said that "Witness for the Prosecution is a witty and concise adaptation of Agatha Christie brought to the big screen artfully and with plenty of vitality thanks to Billy Wilder."

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor (Charles Laughton), Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester), Best Director, Best Editing, Best Picture, and Best Sound (Gordon E. Sawyer).

Lanchester also won a Golden Globe for her role as a supporting actress.

American Film Institute List

• AFI's 100 years... 100 Supense films – Candidate
• AFI's 100 years... 100 heroes and villains:
  • Christine Helm Vole – Candidate as antagonist
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – #6 Judicial Drama

Adaptation

This film is based on the stage version made by Agatha Christie, but it has been expanded in a great way. The script reveals scenes between Sir Wilfrid and his nurse Plimsoll, which were not included in the original play. Wilder and his co-writer Harry Kurnitz added the comedic character of Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester), a cheerful nurse who, with scolding, manages to restore lawyer Laughton to health and tries to shield him from the uproar caused by her new case. Like John Barrymore in Midnight and Lucy in The Greatest and the Best, she is a comical choral figure, a charming nuisance guiding the public's reactions during the trial. However, Agatha Christie's followers accepted the film as one of Christie's best adaptations. In fact, the relationship between Sir Wilfrid and Miss Plimsoll was so successful with audiences and critics that it would be included in the 1982 made-for-television remake, in which Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr would play respective roles.

The film is a painstaking thriller that explores Wilder's interest in role-playing in a playful and entertaining way.

The lawyer Laughton plays pulls off the most striking verbal and visual punches. For example, the monocle works as a lie detector. With it, he captures and directs sunlight as a focus in an interrogation and allows him to check the veracity of his clients' answers. He also gives an excellent speech in which he exposes a lying witness on the stand. The role of him is really awesome and really awesomely played. Wilder always spoke enthusiastically of his friendship with Laughton and even booked her a role in Sweet Irma (1963). But the precarious health of the actor prevented another collaboration

Other adaptations

The first adaptation of Agatha Christie's story was a television production made by the BBC in 1949, lasting 75 minutes.

Another pre-film production came live on CBS from the Lux Video Theater on September 17, 1953, starring Edward G. Robinson, Andrea King and Tom Drake.

Remake was made as a TV movie in 1982, starring Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Beau Bridges, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller and Diana Rigg. It was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Gay from the original screenplay, it was directed by Alan Gibson.