Billy Wilder’s “Witness for the Prosecution” is an outrageous, silly and over-the-top courtroom drama that likely would blow up in its own face were it not based on an Agatha Christie play. And boy does it work.
It stars Charles Laughton in one of his best roles, a blow hard of a barrister in the English courts just getting out of the hospital, but not without a singing sense of humor and dry bout of cynicism. His constant disdain towards his nurse insisting that he not work, drink or smoke is one of the film’s great charms.
His job is to defend the innocent inventor Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), who has been accused of murder of an elderly widow. She recently changed her will to leave everything to him, and although he constantly plays the naive fool as to how serious of trouble he is or how much his German wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) will actually defend him, he’s a cool, confident and likeable character. He’s portrayed by one of Hollywood’s former boy toys, Tyrone Power. In this 1957 film, he was 43 and died a year later, but he had boyish good looks that landed him in numerous blockbuster A-pictures of the time. “Witness for the Prosecution” even gets cute with this when Power is seen watching “Jesse James,” the title character serving as one of his most notable roles.
And being a play, the film is almost entirely courtroom drama. There are only a few scene changes and all the extended courtroom sequences are handled with an enticing pace and levity.
But the ending surely makes the film famous. Just before and following the verdict, “Witness for the Prosecution” has more twists and turns than a pretzel, and all of them are deliciously absurd. The performances Laughton, Power and Dietrich especially are rightfully over the top and accommodate these more idiotic moments nicely.
The film was nominated for Best Picture that year, and it certainly isn’t as good as the winner “The Bridge on the River Kwai” or the fellow courtroom drama nominee “12 Angry Men.” It also arguably isn’t one of Billy Wilder’s best but it’s an enjoyable classic film with a great cast and fun story.