I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Witness for the Prosecution is one of the most entertaining courtroom stories of all time, written by the crime mistress herself, Agatha Christie. Charles Laughton completely owns the courtroom, starring as a famously brilliant barrister who's supposed to be taking a break for his health-but he gets drawn in by a truly compelling murder trial. Tyrone Power, in his last movie, has been accused of murdering a wealthy older woman. While all the evidence racks up against him, Charles doesn't give up hope and tries to win the case, all the while trying to crack the very hard nut Marlene Dietrich. Marlene is Tyrone's wife, and it's impossible to tell what she's really thinking or feeling.I love this story, and I love both versions of the film, from 1957 and 1982. It's incredibly suspenseful and interesting-and also quite impossible to talk about without giving spoilers. If you've never seen Witness for the Prosecution, add this one to your list of classics to rent. The acting is fantastic, and the timing makes it a very entertaining old movie to watch. There are no boring bits in this drama; and I guarantee you'll still sit on the edge of your seat the second time you watch it.

No need to recap plot or consensus points. In many years of movie viewing I've never seen an uglier mug fill up the screen as often as Laughton's. Congratulations to Hollywood for breaking the pretty-face rule. But it's really no problem since it's Laughton's grumpily forceful manner that commands attention. Then there's his real life wife, Lanchester. Their scenes together are absolutely delicious —I wonder how they were at home. The screenplay is a champ at byplay without clouding the plot. In fact it's hard to guess where the murder mystery is going until the final surprise upshot, so the audience stays fully engaged. And for an enclosed courtroom drama, it's a real challenge to keep viewer attention focused. Yet the writers do, mainly with vividly drawn characters. On the whole, there's more character revelation than development as the drama plays out in the present tense courtroom. And since there's no action to speak of, the compelling result amounts a real triumph of both actors and writers combined. In passing—good to see movie vets like Daniell, Wolfe, and Varden picking up screen time and paydays. But thank goodness, O'Connor's snarling old lady doesn't play anyone's grandmother. Otherwise she could ruin the whole idea.

This is actually a comedy, and its artificial intrigue and superficiality is all too transparent for anyone to be able to take it seriously. Yes, it's a murder trial, and murder is dead serious, especially since the punishment in 1952 still was death by hanging, but there are too many flaws in this case to make it credible at all. For example, if Tyrone Power didn't kill her, who did? No other candidate is ever presented, except a fabricated hypothesis of a possible thief, who anyway didn't rob anything, while the broken window clearly wasn't smashed from the outside for a break-in. The prosecutor fails to make this apparent conjecture clear as the absurdity it is and is all the way dwarfed by Charles Laughton as the lawyer.Agatha Christie was a very skillful writer, all her intrigues are logical and water-tight, but they are all superficial constructions. In comparison with Hitchcock's one great murder trial film. "The Paradine Case" (see my review) which is thoroughly organic all the way with very clearcut and convincing characters, each one humanly crippled by his own weakness, this one becomes no more than an entertainment. It is even regularly funny. Billy Wilder made some of the best films of Hollywood in his time, but at the same time all his films suffer from some non-convincing artificial superficiality. He is very seldom serious and can rarely be taken seriously, never in his later films, perhaps in his early ones, especially his maybe best film "Stalag 17" (see my review).Anyway, the film is exciting and enjoyable all the way, although they scream too much at court, also this is not very realistic, and the most enjoyable acting is between Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton. His wife Elsa Lanchester adds as usual a very personal touch to the comedy. It's well worth seeing again after some decades for its great entertainment value, but there are certainly more interesting murder cases on film, especially Hitchcock's very underestimated "Paradine Case".

Hollywood legend Tyrone Power, in his final completed film role, plays Leonard Vole, accused of the murder of a lonely rich middle aged woman, Mrs. Emily Jane French (Norma Varden). They'd struck up a friendship, and he continued to see her in the hopes that she'd finance the inventions that he wanted to market. Now she's dead, and all evidence points to him being the killer. Taking his case is the irascible, witty barrister Sir Wilfrid Roberts (Charles Laughton, in a delicious, Oscar nominated performance), who's recovering from a heart attack.This viewer shouldn't relay too much about the plot, but, as adapted from Agatha Christies' play, it's riveting stuff. While it obviously derives from a stage work with so much focus on dialogue and performance, it's the crackling, often funny dialogue and superior acting that makes this so effective and seemingly quickly paced for a film running just under two hours. The script, written by Harry Kurnitz and the well regarded director Billy Wilder, obviously takes great delight in the twist laden scenario. "Witness for the Prosecution" is often throwing surprises at the audience, and while more savvy folk may be able to predict a fair deal, the ways in which characters and viewers alike are manipulated is nothing short of masterful.There's a great deal of humor to be found in the relationship between Sir Wilfrid and his nursemaid Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester, a.k.a. Mrs. Laughton). She's annoying in a lively, endearing way, and his reactions to her are simply priceless. Lanchester was also Oscar nominated for her scene stealing, comedic work.There are no slackers here, especially when you realize there are performances within performances being given here. Power is quite engaging, and Marlene Dietrich is highly striking as the German woman whom he took as a "wife". Wonderful support is provided by John Williams, Henry Daniell, Ian Wolfe, Torin Thatcher, Ms. Varden, Una O'Connor (that scenery devouring player from some of the Universal horror films of the 1930s, cast here as the housekeeper), Francis Compton, Philip Tonge, and Ruta Lee.The filmmaking is slick without calling attention to itself, with Wilder and company completely trusting the source material. The result is a smashing entertainment that deserves to be rediscovered.Nine out of 10.