Agatha Christie Screen Spotlight: Billy Wilder’s ‘Witness for the Prosecution
Of all the film adaptations of Agatha Christie’s work produced during the author’s lifetime, she reportedly considered Billy Wilder’s 1957 version of Witness for the Prosecution to be the best. It’s not hard to see why, since Wilder’s Oscar-nominated film combines the signature twists of Christie’s stories with Wilder’s own signature wit and skillful work with actors. As director and co-screenwriter, Wilder adapts Christie’s own 1953 stage adaptation of her 1926 short story into a playful yet riveting cinematic experience.
Unlike many of Christie’s most famous stories, Witness for the Prosecution doesn’t focus on a character who solves the central mystery. The protagonist is so certain that he knows the truth about the murder of a wealthy widow that he doesn’t do any investigating at all. All that legendary barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) does to ascertain the innocence of accused murderer Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is subject him to a trick involving light reflected off of Sir Wilfrid’s monocle. Once Leonard passes this stress test, Sir Wilfrid is completely convinced that he’s telling the truth.
That may sound like Sir Wilfrid is supremely arrogant, and he is, but Laughton’s excellent, Oscar-nominated performance also makes Sir Wilfrid charming and funny in his cantankerous bluster, and there’s no reason to think that his confidence in his own legal instincts is unwarranted. He’s clearly greatly respected in his profession, even if his recent recovery from a major heart attack has left him more personally vulnerable. The best running gag in Witness for the Prosecution is the futile efforts of Sir Wilfrid’s nurse, Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester), to get him to take proper care of himself.
Christie and Wilder are wise to focus the movie on Sir Wilfrid, putting the audience right alongside him in seeking justice for the apparently wrongly accused Leonard. Sir Wilfrid and the viewers are equally outraged when Leonard’s seemingly devoted German wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) suddenly turns against him, giving the movie its title. Her appearance in court to testify against him seems to be a deep betrayal, and Dietrich plays it with a mix of cold calculation and weary regret. Regardless of Christine’s true motives, this is a woman who’s lived a difficult life, who did whatever she needed to do after World War II to get out of a crumbling, dangerous country.
Witness for the Prosecution is full of schocking twists, especially in the final scenes that take place after Leonard’s trial, in a mostly empty courtroom as the central characters finally reveal their true selves. But Wilder directs with a light touch, making plenty of space for the comedy of Sir Wilfrid’s thwarting of Miss Plimsoll and the sweet romance of Leonard and Christine’s initial meeting in postwar Germany. Although it’s based on a play, Witness for the Prosecution never feels stagebound, and Wilder opens up with the story with illuminating flashbacks in the first half.
When the movie shifts to the courtroom in its second half, with only brief interludes away, it doesn’t feel confined or limited. Wilder plays up the dry humor of British legal proceedings, as Wilfrid and the opposing prosecutor always refer to each other as “my learned friend” with barely disguised contempt. Una O’Connor provides comic relief as the victim’s cranky housekeeper, and Lanchester — who was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe — delivers a quiet background arc for Miss Plimsoll as she becomes increasingly invested in the case, and in Sir Wilfrid’s prowess as a litigator.
As always with Christie’s work, there’s a satisfying payoff in the climactic explanation of what really happened, but Wilder never opts for a rote recitation of facts. There’s just as much emotion in the process of unveiling the truth as there is in Leonard’s pitiful courtroom pleas for Christine’s love and support. Wilder made some of the greatest movies of all time, including Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity and The Apartment, and Witness for the Prosecution lives up to those incredibly lofty standards. It’s an ingenious mystery that’s also brilliant cinema.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He’s the former film editor of Las Vegas Weekly and the former TV comedies guide for About.com. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, Polygon, CBR, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.