Witness for the Prosecution

The most electrifying entertainment of our time!
146K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  39VWJ
on most orders of $75+
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DVD Details

  • Rated: Not Rated
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 56 minutes
  • Video: Black & White
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: July 22, 2014
  • Originally Released: 1957
  • Label: KL Studios Classics

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring , &
Performer: , , , , , , &
Directed by
Edited by
Screenplay by &
Original story by
Composition by
Art Direction by
Produced by
Director of Photography:

Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh100%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 31

Upright95%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 8,911
A courtroom meller played engagingly and building evenly to a surprising and arousing, albeit tricked-up, climax... Full Review
Variety
Feb 13, 2001
Rating: 4.5/5 -- And the air in the courtroom fairly crackles with emotional electricity, until that staggering surprise in the last reel. Full Review
New York Times
Jan 1, 2000
Rating: 4.5/5 -- Wilder's adaptation is guilty of being absolutely marvelous. Full Review
Film4
Feb 8, 2012
His theatrical mise-en-scene -- his proscenium framing -- serves the material well, as does Charles Laughton's bombastic portrayal of the defense attorney. Full Review
Chicago Reader
Aug 15, 2007
Rating: 4.5/5 -- Every time the story strays from Sir Wilfrid, the interest level goes down a notch. Fortunately for the viewer, it doesn't get away from him very long at any point. Full Review
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Oct 17, 2014
Rating: 5/5 -- [Marlene Dietrich] was never better than she is here. Full Review
Times (UK)
Jan 30, 2007
Rating: 4.5/5 -- Witness For The Prosecution has the pace and patience of live theater, but not the look. Wilder doesn't get overly flashy with camera moves and angles, but he does shift positioning subtly and effectively. Full Review
The Dissolve
Jul 22, 2014

Product Description:

Charles Laughton stars as barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts in Billy Wilder's screen version of Agatha Christie's enormously successful stage adaptation of her original story. Although the ailing attorney has been advised by his doctors to cease and desist from the practice of law, his interest is piqued when solicitor Mayhew (Henry Daniell) asks him to take the case of murderer suspect Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power). After evidence that he stood to gain financially from the victim's death comes to light, the man is indicted. Robarts, nonetheless, agrees to defend Vole, convinced as he is of his innocence. But the case becomes even more of an uphill battle when the defendant's supposedly loving wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) decides to testify as a witness for the prosecution. Wilder expanded Christie's play, creating the role of Robarts' housekeeper Miss Plimsoll (played by Laughton's actual wife Elsa Lanchester), whose badinage with her employer provides a comic counterpoint to the film's melodrama. Bravura performances by Dietrich and Laughton fuel the entertaining courtroom drama, which also features fine work by Tyrone Power in his last screen appearance.

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Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 115,027
  • UPC: 738329132521
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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