The play is a lot of fun that keeps you guessing until the end, and Billy Wilder's film is one of the best Agatha Christie film adaptations in my opinion. So this TV film had much to live up to. And it did so in a worthy way, and generally compares favourably. The music score can be a little too obtrusive sometimes, but the biggest problem was Beau Bridges who is much too laid-lack, nowhere near shady enough and he doesn't have the slick charm, charisma or even handsome enough looks to have three women falling for him. Tyrone Power however did have those things. However, the film is very well photographed and looks evocative and wholly professional in how it was made. The direction is careful and meticulous but never resorting to stodginess. The dialogue is intelligent and sometimes funny, the courtroom scenes are well paced and compelling and while the chemistry between Richardson and Rigg is not quite as dynamic as Laughton and Dietrich and perhaps a little too teasing it is still sharp and intense.
The story keeps you guessing, no matter how familiar you are with the story or not, coming from somebody who's seen the play twice and the Wilder film at least seven times the story was suspensefully and grippingly told which was what I was looking for really. The flashbacks didn't harm anything at all. I also don't mind it being word for word, screen for screen as it is well made stuff and has a good cast to carry it. I can understand why people would be dubious though, as I admittedly was too, seeing as the remake of Psycho was also word for word screen for screen and even shot for shot and it was an awful film because it had no sense of suspense or terror and the cast was bad, which was not the case here. In fact, apart from Bridges, the cast were very good. Ralph Richardson gives a quieter and perhaps more subtle performance than Charles Laughton, and it was a convincing approach and he still gives an enigmatic and twitchy performance as a result.
Though admittedly I do prefer the more shrewd and gleeful performance of Laughton who made the already great dialogue even funnier by his comic delivery alone. Diana Rigg is also very good and delightfully wicked, probably the member of the cast that I remember. She isn't quite as successful as Marlene Dietrich with the Cockney-voiced lady but takes a very noble stab at it with some clever direction, with Dietrich she succeeded in using a completely different voice which compensated for the little attempt taken to disguise her distinctive nose. Deborah Kerr is in a different role, but does so in a fun and charming performance with good chemistry with Richardson, while Donald Pleasance's prosecutor is appropriately cunning and thoughtfully observed. Wendy Hiller is very sweet and dotty. All in all, of course there were times that weren't quite there but this Witness for the Prosecution is still very worthy and compares favourably.
8/10 Bethany Cox
The story keeps you guessing, no matter how familiar you are with the story or not, coming from somebody who's seen the play twice and the Wilder film at least seven times the story was suspensefully and grippingly told which was what I was looking for really. The flashbacks didn't harm anything at all. I also don't mind it being word for word, screen for screen as it is well made stuff and has a good cast to carry it. I can understand why people would be dubious though, as I admittedly was too, seeing as the remake of Psycho was also word for word screen for screen and even shot for shot and it was an awful film because it had no sense of suspense or terror and the cast was bad, which was not the case here. In fact, apart from Bridges, the cast were very good. Ralph Richardson gives a quieter and perhaps more subtle performance than Charles Laughton, and it was a convincing approach and he still gives an enigmatic and twitchy performance as a result.
Though admittedly I do prefer the more shrewd and gleeful performance of Laughton who made the already great dialogue even funnier by his comic delivery alone. Diana Rigg is also very good and delightfully wicked, probably the member of the cast that I remember. She isn't quite as successful as Marlene Dietrich with the Cockney-voiced lady but takes a very noble stab at it with some clever direction, with Dietrich she succeeded in using a completely different voice which compensated for the little attempt taken to disguise her distinctive nose. Deborah Kerr is in a different role, but does so in a fun and charming performance with good chemistry with Richardson, while Donald Pleasance's prosecutor is appropriately cunning and thoughtfully observed. Wendy Hiller is very sweet and dotty. All in all, of course there were times that weren't quite there but this Witness for the Prosecution is still very worthy and compares favourably.
8/10 Bethany Cox
