Blu ray review: Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Billy Wilder's excellent courtroom drama has been released on blu ray by Kino Lorber, with some solid extras.

Based on a play by Agatha Christie, this film about a wealthy woman's murder, and accusations toward the man who was her will's chief beneficiary, is immediately absorbing, and has not a second of wasted footage. Charles Laughton throws himself into the role of barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts and turns in one of his many fine performances. Tyrone Power is at his best as the accused. This would be his last completed film (he would suffer a massive heart attack while filming Solomon and Sheba the following year, dying soon afterward, and being replaced by Yul Brynner). Marlene Dietrich is outstanding as the defendant's wife who testifies against him.

It is no surprise that Agatha Christie named this (and the later Murder on the Orient Express) as the best screen adaption of one of her plays. It is a compelling, powerful drama with top level performances by some of the screen's finest actors. It was nominated for six Oscars, won none, but was a massive box office hit. At its premiere, the audience had to sign cards promising not to reveal the surprise ending to anyone who hadn't seen the film, a warning repeated over the film's end credits.

Kino Lorber's blu ray benefits from welcome extras, including commentary by Billy Wilder biographer Joseph McBride, and a discussion of the film with Wilder and Volker Schlondorff.

One of the truly great classic films of the 1950s, the Kino blu ray of Witness for the Prosecution can be ordered at this link: WITNESS