Witness for the Prosecution

Revisiting this Wilder classic for the first time in a long time. I remembered a lot about this movie, like the ride up the stairs and Charles Laughton being hilarious and cranky. What I didn't remember was the ending, I was like what? then what again then what again?! Great stuff.

I was suspicious that the woman in the bar was really Dietrich in disguise because the accent was something else, but I wasn't 100%. It was 100% more convincing than the shit that went down in Body Double the other night.

Great script, great actors, great direction, great film.

Many people rate this as Christie’s best movie adaptation. I disagree and find several others to be better. It’s good of course but I much prefer Death on the Nile from ‘78 which is my favorite. It has great actors, much more interesting characters and possibly the best on locations sets of any film.

As for this movie, Tyrone Power’s acting is pretty awful. The way he speaks makes it seem as if he is repeating memorized lines - which he is of course lol but he’s not supposed to show it.

What’s great about this film IMO is Christie’s plot and not so much the movie itself.

Plus court room dramas suck. There I said it.

I think this is a generally good movie. The problem is, by this point, it's been copied many times over. Another movie that popped immediately into my head was [spoiler] High Crimes with Ashley Judd, Jim Caviezel, and Morgan Freeman. [/spoiler] However, there are many others. This is a common problem with classics and it's unfortunate because I'm sure at the time this was a great hit. But now it's been said and done so many times, it just feels like a run-of-the-mill courtroom drama. And especially in our current time, when the curtain of idealism about criminal justice has been pulled back to reveal the harsh (and unfair) reality, the shock and cynicism of this movie simply falls flat. Still, that's not to say it wasn't an enjoyable watch. Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, and Marlene Dietrich all gave great performances. Laughton, in particular, is very convincing and humorous as a crotchety old lawyer. Of course, as with many classics, there's the usual sprinkling of misogyny and xenophobia. And there's ample amounts of exposition. I'm beginning to think it can't be a classic without a heap of that. Overall, if you like courtroom dramas, mysteries, or just classics in general, this is definitely worth a watch. If not, it's still probably worth a watch but expect it to feel very familiar.

Like a lot of Agatha Christie's work, it starts to collapse once we get to the conclusion. However, the first 90 minutes of this are really strong. Loved the main character and all of the quirks given to him by the script and direction (blinding monocle; his love of cigars; the health pills which I was honestly expecting to become a major plot point at some point). The plot is engaging right from the start because of the compelling mystery and excellent direction. Wilder controls the amount of exposition by constantly cutting back to flashbacks, there's constantly this sense of breadcrumbs being dropped but it's unclear how the pieces fit together. It has a good sense of humour that continues during the scenes taking place in the courtroom (loved the deaf housekeeper) and don't undercut the tension. However, from the scene where it introduces this new plot device of a bunch of letters it pretty much lost me. Not only is it poorly acted, but the device is so highly convenient that it left me really confused, especially because the movie preceding it is so tightly written. During the final ten minutes we receive an explanation for this scene, but it creates this whole new set of problems. In fact, there's a bunch of new reveals and twists during this ending that are so ludicrous and/or cheesy that it taints a lot of what's come before. Therefore, I wouldn't rank this among Wilder's best, but it's still a fun watch overall.

7/10

Witness for the Prosecution is a twisty little devil. Charles Laughton is magnificent as Sir Wilfrid, and he carries the viewer to the end. This film is intelligent, but it lacks the comedy of Billy Wilders' other movies - and that comedy is missed.

The ending ruins it. The whole thing is really good and interesting, but that last twist is so unnecessary that it takes away from the rest of it. A real bummer, because I was about to give it a 8 of 9 out of ten. Not now though.

Kinda amazed how much shows like HTGAWM have taken this genre and really amped things up.