Based on a play by Agatha Christie, “Witness for the Prosecution” is a taut, engrossing whodunit. We have Leonard (Tyrone Power), the handsome defendant accused of murder, his seemingly duplicitous wife Christine (Marlena Dietrich), the bombastic defense attorney Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton), and a handful of supporting players all trying to uncover who killed the wealthy spinster Emily French (Norma Varden).
Leonard has been arrested because he appears to be the likeliest suspect. He and Emily struck up a friendship when Leonard happened past the window of a millinery shop and motioned to her as to which hat she should buy. They spend some innocent time together, but surely Leonard saw that Mrs. French was exceedingly fond of him. Nonetheless, she winds up dead, clocked in the head with a blunt object. Emily’s Scottish maid thinks Leonard did it, and so too, in a rather cold demonstration of marital love, does his wife.
Sir Wilfrid tries to uncover first if he thinks Leonard is guilty, and second how to present Leonard’s innocence. Christine is no help, as she continues to vow to say whatever Leonard wants. Through a canny plot device, Christine is able to testify against her husband — she is a witness for the prosecution.
Nearly all of the events in this film take place in one of two places: Sir Wilfrid’s chambers of the Old Bailey courthouse in London. That makes “Witness for the Prosecution” far different from other trial films, where the cameras take us out into the field. When Leonard tells his story, we see a couple of incidents in flashback. But for the most part, director Billy Wilder and Agatha Christie let us watch events unfold, asking us to mimic Sir Wilfrid and draw our own conclusions.
While not his finest directorial effort, Wilder certainly keeps things under control here, never letting courtroom histrionics turn into melodrama. Tyrone Power, in what would be his last film, has a few over-the-top moments, but then again, his character is on trial for his life. Marlena Dietrich shows us the hot blood running through the cold Christine, and even gets to sing a song. The real stars are Laughton and his off-screen wife Elsa Lancaster, who appears as Sir Wilfrid’s beleaguered nurse. Their comic repartee is brilliantly paced by Wilder, giving us a chance to giggle in the midst of a murder trial.
There are two huge plot twists at the end of the film. So huge, in fact, that as the closing credits roll, a booming voice begs the viewer not to divulge the surprises, so as not to ruin the experience for other audiences.
Will you be able to spot what’s going to happen? Will you figure out who killed Emily French? Watch “Witness for the Prosecution” and put your sleuthing skills to the test.
Parsons may be reached at moviechick@carolina.net.
