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Witness for the Prosecution is a 1957 American legal mystery thriller film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. The film, which has elements of bleak black comedy and film noir, is a courtroom drama set in the Old Bailey in London and is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Agatha Christie. The first film adaptation of Christie's story, Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the screen by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz and Wilder. The film received positive reviews and six Academy Award nominations.

Witness for the Prosecution
Original release poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder
Screenplay by	Larry Marcus Billy Wilder Harry Kurnitz
Based on	The Witness for the Prosecution 1926 story / 1953 play by Agatha Christie
Produced by	Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Starring	Tyrone Power Marlene Dietrich Charles Laughton Elsa Lanchester
Cinematography	Russell Harlan
Edited by	Daniel Mandell
Music by	Matty Malneck
Production company	Edward Small Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	December 17, 1957 (1957-12-17) (Limited U.S. release) January 30, 1958 (1958-01-30) (Premiere, London)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million[1]
Box office	$9 million

Plot

Senior barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, who is recovering from a heart attack, agrees to defend Leonard Vole despite the objections of his private nurse Miss Plimsoll, as Sir Wilfrid's doctor has warned him against taking any criminal cases. Vole is accused of murdering Emily French, a wealthy, childless, older widow who had become enamored of him and had named him as the main beneficiary in her will. Strong circumstantial evidence points to Vole as the killer, but Sir Wilfrid believes Vole to be innocent.

When Sir Wilfrid speaks with Vole's German wife Christine, he finds her rather cold and self-possessed, but she does provide an alibi, although it is not entirely convincing. He is greatly surprised when, during the trial, she is summoned as a witness by the prosecuting barrister.

While a wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband, Christine was still married to Otto Helm, a German man now living in East Germany in the Russian Zone, when she wed Vole (who was in the Royal Air Force and part of the occupation forces in Germany and had married her to help her escape Germany). She testifies that Vole privately confessed to her that he had killed Mrs. French, and her conscience forced her to finally tell the truth.

During the trial in the Old Bailey, Sir Wilfrid is contacted by a mysterious woman who, for a fee, provides him with letters written by Christine to a mysterious lover named Max. The handwriting is genuine, and the woman has a legitimate reason for providing the letters: her face has been scarred and slashed, supposedly by Max. The letters include an account of Max and Christine's plan to kill Leonard, which convinces the jury that Christine had deliberately perjured herself. Leonard is acquitted, much to the crowd's delight.

However, Sir Wilfrid is troubled by the verdict. He is proved correct when Christine, brought into the courtroom for safety after being assailed by the departing crowd for her conduct, tells him that he had help winning the case. Sir Wilfrid had told her before the trial that any alibi contributed by a loving wife would be believed by the jury. So she played a hateful, double-crossing wife and proffered testimony implicating her husband, and then forged the letters to the non-existent Max and assumed a disguise to play the mysterious woman who contributed the letters, discrediting her own testimony and leading to the acquittal. She admits that she saved Leonard, although she knew that he was guilty, because she loves him. She accepts that she may be tried for perjury.

Leonard, who has overheard Christine's admission, cheerfully confirms that he indeed killed Mrs. French. Sir Wilfrid is infuriated but helpless to stop Leonard because of double-jeopardy laws (since overturned in the United Kingdom) that would prevent a retrial. Christine is shocked to discover that Leonard has been in an affair with a younger woman for whom he plans to abandon Christine, feeling he and Christine are now even because they have saved each other's lives.

Christine angrily grabs a knife (used earlier as evidence and subtly highlighted by a reflection on Sir Wilfrid's monocle) and kills Leonard. After she is arrested by the police, Sir Wilfrid, urged on by Miss Plimsoll, declares that he will take on Christine's defense.

Cast

Credited

Uncredited

Cast notes

Witness for the Prosecution was Power's final completed film. He died of a heart attack after a lengthy dueling sequence during the filming of King Vidor's Solomon and Sheba (1959) and was replaced by Yul Brynner.[2]

Lanchester and Laughton were a married couple.

O'Connor was the only member of the original Broadway play's cast to reprise her role in the film. It was also her final film; she retired from acting after its completion.

Vivien Leigh was considered for the role of Christine Vole.[3]

Production

Producers Arthur Hornblow and Edward Small bought the rights to the play for $450,000. The play was adjusted to emphasize the character of the defense barrister.[4] Billy Wilder was signed to direct in April 1956.[5] According to Wilder, when the producers approached Marlene Dietrich about the part, she accepted on the condition that Wilder direct. Wilder said that Dietrich liked "to play a murderess" but was "a little bit embarrassed when playing the love scenes."[6]

Laughton based his performance on Florance Guedella, his own lawyer, an Englishman who was known for twirling his monocle while cross-examining witnesses.[4]

In a flashback showing how Leonard and Christine first meet in a German nightclub, she is wearing her trademark trousers, made famous by Dietrich in director Josef von Sternberg’s film Morocco (1930).[7] A rowdy customer rips them down one side, revealing one of Dietrich's renowned legs and starting a brawl. The scene required 145 extras, 38 stuntmen and cost $90,000.[8] The bar is called Die blaue Laterne (English: The Blue Lantern), which is a reference to Dietrich's famous film The Blue Angel.

United Artists' "surprise ending"

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

The management of this theater suggests that, for the greater entertainment of your friends who have not yet seen the picture, you will not divulge to anyone the secret of the ending of Witness for the Prosecution.[9]

This was in keeping with the advertising campaign for the film. One of the posters said: "You'll talk about it! - but please don't tell the ending!"[10]

The effort to keep the ending a secret extended to the cast. Billy Wilder did not allow the actors to view the final ten pages of the script until it was time to shoot those scenes. The secrecy reportedly cost Marlene Dietrich an Academy Award, as United Artists did not want to call attention to the fact that Dietrich was practically unrecognizable as the Cockney woman who hands over the incriminating letters to the defense.[11]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "... [T]here's never a dull or worthless moment. It's all parry and punch from the word 'Go!', which is plainly announced when the accused man is brought to Mr. Laughton at the beginning of the film. And the air in the courtroom fairly crackles with emotional electricity, until that staggering surprise in the last reel. Then the whole drama explodes. It's the staging of the scenes that is important in this rapidly moving film ... It's the balancing of well-marked characters, the shifts of mood, the changes of pace and the interesting bursts of histrionics that the various actors display."[5]

Agatha Christie "herself considered it the finest film derived from one of her stories."[12][13] It currently holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews with an average rating of 8.53/10.[14] In TV Guide's review of the film, it received four and a half stars out of five, the writer saying that "Witness for the Prosecution is a witty, terse adaptation of the Agatha Christie hit play brought to the screen with ingenuity and vitality by Billy Wilder."[15]

The American Film Institute included the film in AFI's 10 Top 10 at #6 in the courtroom-drama category.

The film reached number one at the American box office for two consecutive weeks in February and March 1958.[16]

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Academy Awards[17]	Best Picture	Arthur Hornblow Jr.	Nominated
	Best Director	Billy Wilder	Nominated
	Best Actor	Charles Laughton	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Elsa Lanchester	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Daniel Mandell	Nominated
	Best Sound Recording	Gordon E. Sawyer	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Charles Laughton	Nominated
David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Actor		Won
Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Billy Wilder	Nominated
Edgar Allan Poe Awards	Best Motion Picture	Billy Wilder and Harry Kurnitz	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama		Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	Charles Laughton	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Marlene Dietrich	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Elsa Lanchester	Won
	Best Director – Motion Picture	Billy Wilder	Nominated
Laurel Awards	Top Drama		4th Place
	Top Female Dramatic Performance	Marlene Dietrich	2nd Place
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Hall of Fame – Motion Picture		Won

Other adaptations

The first adaptation of the Agatha Christie story was a BBC television production produced in 1949 with a running time of 75 minutes.[18]

Another early production of Witness for the Prosecution was in the form of a live telecast on CBS's Lux Video Theatre on September 17, 1953, starring Edward G. Robinson, Andrea King and Tom Drake.[19]

Christie's play was first performed in Nottingham on September 28, 1953, opened in London on October 28 and on Broadway on December 16, 1954.[20]

In 1982, Witness for the Prosecution was remade as a television film starring Sir Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Beau Bridges, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller and Diana Rigg.[21] It was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Gay from the original screenplay and directed by Alan Gibson.[22]

In 2016, a miniseries starring Billy Howle, Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Kim Cattrall and David Haig was broadcast on BBC One and received widespread acclaim.[23]

Also in 2016, Deadline Hollywood announced that Ben Affleck would direct, produce and act in a remake of Witness for the Prosecution for 20th Century Fox,[24] but the project has not yet been realized.

Home media

Witness for the Prosecution was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on December 11, 2001 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD, and by Kino Lorber (under license from MGM) on Blu-ray on July 22, 2014 as a Region 1 widescreen disc.

See also

• List of American films of 1957
• Trial movies

References

Bibliography

• Durgnat, Raymond; Simmon, Scott (1988). King Vidor, American. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05798-8.
• Hopkins, Charles (2004). A Foreign Affair, 1948. UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22-August 21.
• Zigelstein, Jesse (2004). Witness for the Prosecution, 1957. UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22-August 21.

External links

• Witness for the Prosecution at IMDb
• Witness for the Prosecution at Rotten Tomatoes
• Witness for the Prosecution at the American Film Institute Catalog
• ​Witness for the Prosecution​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• Witness for the Prosecution at the TCM Movie Database
• Witness for the Prosecution at AllMovie

На других языках

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[de] Zeugin der Anklage (1957)

Zeugin der Anklage (Originaltitel: Witness for the Prosecution) ist ein US-amerikanischer in Schwarzweiß gedrehter Kriminalfilm des Regisseurs Billy Wilder aus dem Jahr 1957. Der in London spielende Film ist eine Adaption des gleichnamigen Theaterstücks der Schriftstellerin Agatha Christie aus dem Jahr 1953. Er errang 1958 sechs Oscar-Nominierungen und wurde 2008 vom American Film Institute auf Platz 6 in seine Liste der „besten Gerichtsdramen aller Zeiten“ aufgenommen.

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- [en] Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)

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[ru] Свидетель обвинения

«Свидетель обвинения» (англ. Witness for the Prosecution) — детективный кинофильм Билли Уайлдера, премьера которого состоялась в 1957 году. Экранизация одноимённой пьесы Агаты Кристи, написанной по её же одноимённому рассказу. Главные роли исполняют Чарльз Лоутон, Тайрон Пауэр (последнее появление на киноэкране) и Марлен Дитрих. Шесть номинаций на премию «Оскар», в том числе как лучшему фильму года.

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