Billy Wilder tries his hand at Agatha Christie, yet it’s Charles Laughton who wins the day. In Witness for the Prosecution, based on a Christie play, Laughton plays Sir Wilfrid Robarts, an esteemed British barrister on his first day back to the office after a heart attack. Lobbying and filibustering his way around his protective nurse (Elsa Lanchester), Sir Wilfrid disobeys doctor’s orders and immediately takes a high-profile case: defending Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), a financially strapped World War II veteran who has been accused of murdering the older, wealthy widow who had developed a crush on him. Laughton—also known in cinephile circles for his lone directorial effort, the masterful The Night of the Hunter—cantankerously carries every scene, wheedling witnesses and suspects between his own wheezes. (Indeed, part of the suspense is whether or not Sir Wilfrid will survive the trial.) He’s like Columbo, if the character had been a lawyer rather than a detective. But could Sir Wilfrid’s usually astute instincts be off this time around? That seems possible with the arrival of Vole’s enigmatic wife, played by Marlene Dietrich. As in her golden era, Dietrich brings an aura of mysterious nonchalance to her performance, although it’s a bit less potent some 25 years on. (A flashback calling back to Dietrich’s cabaret performances in both The Blue Angel and Morocco only makes the passage of time more apparent.) Dietrich’s inscrutability serves a murder mystery well, however, especially with the ingeniously light touch of Wilder guiding things along. An early sequence involving the stair lift that has been installed in Sir Wilfrid’s office includes enough character comedy to be a brilliant short film of its own. And we only get a delicious, darkly comic courtroom drama from there.
(9/25/2024)
