Cheap Witness For the Prosecution (DVD) (Billy Wilder) Price

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Customer Reviews of Witness For the Prosecution

"Where is my cocoa?"
Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton), Barrister is returning to work prematurely from hospital for a heart condition. He is accompanied by fussy Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester) Nurse. <
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>Sir Wilfred promised not to take on any strenuous case. However in exchange for a chance to pilfer a forbidden cigar he soon gets intriguingly involved in a murder case. You can tell that Leonard Stephen Vole is being actively accused of murder based on circumstantial evidence. Sr. Wilfred after giving charismatic Leonard the eye-glass test is sure that he is innocent and knows if he does not take an active part in the trial that Leonard is doomed. To make matters worse Leonard's wife Christine Helm Vole (Marlene Dietrich), his only alibi, is some sort of cool character and looks suspicious her self. <
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>Will Sir Wilfred take on the case? And if so will he die trying? <
>What is Christine's secret? <
>How will it turn out in the end? <
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>This film is well played and will keep you on the edge of your seat. You will be like the jury vacillating over his innocence and the outcome of the trial. Do not let Leonard's story distract you from the bantering and budding affair between Sir Wilfred and Nurse Plimsoll. <
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A gripping English courtroom drama
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>As strongly advised by the narrator in the movie, we viewers are not to disclose the ending of the plot. And you'll be guaranteed a big twist and surprise that is beyond your imagination! <
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>Charles Laughton is the renowned persistent barrister with an even more persistent nurse and watchful housekeeper. He, against the advice of his doctor and his nurse, acted as the defence lawyer in an apparently hopeless to win trial. Tyrone Power was the accused murderer with a beautiful foreigner wife Marlene Dietrich. The time was a few years after the World War II ended and the place London when the public was still at large unsympathetic to Germans. <
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>The three stars acted superbly with impeccable lines. To top it all, the movie is given an ending that is wonderful, unexpected and at the same time serves the justice well. It can only be said that the punishment fits the crime and human nature (or weaknesses and prejudices, to be more specific) as portrayed in the movie is still highly relevant nowadays. To me, this is the most intriguing work by Agatha Christie. <
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>This movie can hardly be remade and deliver as much impact. There simply is not another trio who could play against each other so well. The conversations when Charles Laughton first inquired of the testimony of the husband and wife, separately, at his apartment were already as exciting as the subsequent court room drama. Credits must also be given to the director Billy Wilder (Sabrina, the Apartment, Some Like It Hot) who was a master of portraying characters, dialogues, wit and detail. No one could impress more than Marlene Dietrich as the intelligent wife with an unmistakable German accent. There is also a rare scene of her showing her legs. Tyrone Power grabbed the audience's attention with his plea for his innocence. And Charles Laughton is Charles Laughton - a big boy who pursued the case, as well as indulged himself in a few drinks and cigars, ferociously and fervantly. He is also the brain of the movie and the truth first dawned on him only till the end. <
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>It might also interest you that the nurse, Elsa Lanchester starred in the Bride of Frankestein and played as Charles Laughton's wife, Anne of Cleves, in the Private Life of Henry VIII. Another barrister in the movie, John Williams, actually assumed the role of Audrey Hepburn's father in Sabrina. With such a star-studded performance, you will not be a bit diasppointed.

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Fun and intriguing all around
I'm a confessed Agatha Christie fanatic. Read all her books back in the seventies (was furious when she died before I'd finished reading them all!), but somehow didn't get around to seeing this movie until Dec. 2005. What a fine thing to have waiting for me all these years. The cast is superb, the suspense wonderful, the story telling fine, the ending heart pounding. See the movie for a guaranteed good time. You may figure out part of the puzzle before the conclusion, but you'll never predict the whole thing. After you watch this one, find some local theater group performing "The Mousetrap" and go see it, too, for another night of thrilling entertainment!