From my favorite movies..

Don't Believe the Hype

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

"Witness To Murder" is a modest but entertaining thriller with some sensational cinematography and a couple of conspicuously good performances that more than compensate for its rather unremarkable plot. The story doesn't score high on originality or contain many twists but it is, nevertheless, very engaging because it's hard to resist the need to know how the plight of its main protagonist plays out. Some passages are also suspenseful and the climax is tense and exciting.One night, Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) witnesses the murder of a young woman in an apartment on the opposite side of the street to her own. She clearly sees the killer strangling his victim to death and then promptly telephones the police to report what she's seen. When Lieutenant Larry Mathews (Gary Merrill) visits the alleged murder scene, there is no dead body or any evidence of a crime having been committed and so he assumes that Cheryl must have imagined or dreamt the incident.On the following day, Cheryl sees Albert Richter (George Sanders) pushing a large trunk into a station wagon and recognises him as the strangler. Through her own investigations, she discovers that there's a vacant apartment adjacent to Richter's in which he could have hidden the body when the police called and some marks on the floor seem to support this theory, as they indicate that something heavy had recently been dragged from one side of the room to the other.Despite the fact that nobody is convinced by what she says, Cheryl keeps repeating her accusations and whenever she offers some further evidence of Richter's guilt, he cleverly provides a plausible explanation. The longer this goes on, the more convinced the police become that she's irrational and Richter exploits this situation by giving the police some letters (which he claims she wrote) that show that she's mentally ill and clearly intent on persecuting him. The police believe that the letters were written by Cheryl and soon after, have her committed to a mental hospital for observation. The ways in which she navigates her way through this experience and eventually devises a plan to convince the police of Richter's guilt are both intriguing and entertaining to watch.George Sanders is tremendous as the villain of the piece and convincingly slimy as a seemingly sophisticated author who's actually a political fanatic and a callous murderer whose only motive is pure greed. Barbara Stanwyck is also excellent as the remarkably determined Cheryl who continues to persevere despite all the difficulties that she confronts. The way in which Stanwyck portrays Cheryl's mixture of fear and toughness is very well balanced and subtle and adds considerable interest to each new plot development.An unexpected feature of this movie is John Alton's amazing cinematography which does so much to enhance the mood of the piece. The expert way in which light and shadow are used and camera angles are exploited to emphasise certain moments are truly outstanding as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

***SPOILERS*** Actually released three months before the very similar 1954 Alfred Hitchcock color crime classic "Rear Window" the black & white crime thriller "Witness to Murder" has a woman Cheryl Draper, Barbara Stanwyck, watch in horror outside her window as her next door neighbor Albert Richter, George Sanders, strangle a woman later to be identified as Joyce Stewart, Lyn Thomas,in his apartment.Reporting the incident to the police Cheryl is shocked to find out that there's no evidence or a dead body to have Richter arrested for the crime he "supossidtly" committed. The well spoken, in both German & English, and sophisticated Richter an ex-Nazi and now both historical writer and engaged to marry mega rich widow Mrs. Overhill plans to put the squeeze on Cheryl by either making her look or driving her insane in order to get her out of his hair. Richter plans start a new Nazi movement, with Mrs. Overhill's millions, here in the USA with him becoming the leader or "Fuhrer" of it.The accusations about Richter by Cheryl go completely over the head of investigating LAPD detective Larry Mathews, Gary Merrill, who despite falling in love with Cheryl can't believe a word she says. That's how skillful Richter spins a web of deception in making Cheryl look as nutty as a fruitcake in her accusations against him! Richter is so good in making Cheryl look nuts that she's put against her will into the psycho ward of the L.A Municipal Hospital for mental observation!What turns out to be Richter biggest mistake is his thinking that he's actually an invincible "Aryan Superman" or Nazi and in his complete and total arrogance admits to Cheryl his crime in him tinkling that no one would believe her! This off the wall nut-case felt that Joyce, a local hooker, had outlived her usefulness and thus disposed of her like he would a used Kleenex tissue after having a last fling with her!We as well as Cheryl get a real good insight in how Richter's sick mind works when in the middle of a sentence he breaks out in his native German boasting how his crazed and Nazi like ideas will become the new world religion with him being the "Big Man" in charge of it!***SPOILERS*** Cheryl running for her life as well as freedom,in her about to be put in a mental asylum, with both Richter and the LAPD that includes Larry Mathews in pursuit is trapped on top of a 30 floor high-rise construction site with Richter, in trying to make it look like a suicide, about to push her off. It's then that Larry realizes that Cheryl was right about Richter all along and instead of having her arrested and put away tries to keep Richter from murdering her! As a reward for his both insanity and criminality, both in Germany and here in the USA, Richter gets a final send-off when he slips and falls, in his attempt to murder Larry, by dropping down or getting shafted an 300 foot elevator shaft and in the process breaking dozens of wooden boards as well as all his bones before he finally hits bottom!

As you can tell by my headline, I found this a shockingly inferior film. And sad to experience, as a fan of Barbara Stanwyck, that she had reached the age and stage of her career, where was challenged to bring her craft to inferior scripts and directors. The story was infuriatingly sexist, even for the 50s. Because she is a woman, she is brushed off, and told to calm down. I found Gary Merrill's reprise from All About Eve of the smug man who has to patronizingly calm down the little woman absolutely infuriating. As a side note, he's lucky to have AAE in his credits, because he is a mediocre actor lucky enough to be in a famous picture, and he was the same in every role. Obviously Stanwyck is fine here, as usual. But it's such an implausible absurd story that it's hard to really suspend disbelief, when cops don't do rudimentary investigation into a murder allegation. And Stanwyck's incarceration in the booby hatch was so ridiculous that I just fast forwarded through what looked like outtakes from the Snake Pit. There were plot holes to drive a bus through, and plot contrivances and impossibilities that were eye-rolling. She's running down the street shrieking, and everyone is just compliantly following ? And how many duplicate scenes of a) Merrill telling Stanwyck to calm down and see reason and b) Stanwyck reluctantly agreeing against her instincts. Over. And over. And over. Oh - and for all you folks that love t throw around the word Noir when there is a hint of a) night; b) shadow; c) murder; d) black and white -- those do not Noir make, which require a femme fatale, a weak male (usually), hard-boiled dialogue and (often) Voice-over, and a pervasive cynicism. None of which this film, a murder-suspense, is. Shows you that even an A cast can't overcome a bad script and direction.

Witness to Murder (1954)This talented, gripping crime drama is a little outside the party in many ways, and even now it shamefully falls under the radar with reviewers and on wikipedia. But if you overlook a couple of creaky elements, like the police carelessly revealing their witness to the killer at the start, you will find a great B-noir.I say B-noir because it was produced by Chester Erskine Productions (this is their only movie) and released by United Artists (who distributed lots of the independent small company releases). And this is interesting because the movie has a stellar cast. The leads alone are big name stuff, Barbara Stanwyck and George Sanders. But keep going down the list and you'll find both detectives are well known noir and drama actors (especially Gary Merrill), the apartment manager is the guy who shouts out the window in "It's a Wonderful Life," and there is the incomparable Juanita Moore (from Sirk's "Imitation of Life") in a insane asylum scene.Add to this ace noir cinematographer John Alton ("Border Incident" and "The Big Combo") and uncredited screenwriter Nunnally Johnson ("The Three Faces of Eve" etc.) and you have all the ingredients for a great movie. And it is great in many ways. The plot itself, which I don't like to spend time on, is a classic one--someone sees a murder out their window. And of course, the murderer finds out they've been seen. If this sounds like Hitchcock's "Rear Window" you are right, and there are many echoes, even with the killer showing up at the witness's apartment. But wait just a second--both movies are the same year. In fact, "Witness to Murder" was released first by nine months. At the time, it did fine at the box office, but it is history, and the vagaries of video release through various studios who buy and sell rights to these movies, that has forgotten this. And with the plot so similar to "Rear Window," the less flashy, black and white, low budget "Witness to Murder" never had a chance against the Technicolor Hitchcock release, which is a far more inventive masterpiece. Stanwyck and Sanders maybe be approaching their years of decline in popularity (Stanwyck had a second birth in television's "Thorn Birds"), but they are both great here. When Sanders breaks out in German, it's a shock because it is utterly convincing. And when Stanwyck does anything, like take the burning supper out of the oven, or light a match, or run for her life, she does it with modern, natural ease. This is a smart movie, and director Roy Rowland's best movie, from what I can tell--neither you nor I are likely to see any of the others (of his fifty movies, two are available on Netflix, DVD and streaming both).But see this one. It uses lots of clichés, but it uses the very well.