|
By
NICK ZEGARAC
Based on Agatha Christie's
famed stage success, "Witness for the Prosecution"
is a benign courtroom drama that seems more
interested in indulging star performances
bordering on corn, rather than providing genuine
thrills generated from its criminal content.
The story concerns one Leonard Vole (Tyrone
Powers), a man accused of murdering a rich widow
for her money. Sir Wilfred Robards (Charles
Laughton) is assigned to the case, much to the
chagrin of his nattering nurse (Elsa Lanchester).
Initially Sir Wilfred is convinced of Vole's
innocence. But the plot thickens with an
unexpected twist when Vole's wife, Christine
(Marlene Dietrich), suggests that not only were
the widow and her husband more than just friends,
but that she believes Leonard capable of murder.
In the final act this bit of spousal deception
comes back to haunt Christine.
An aside: In order to provide Dietrich with the
opportunity to show off her shapely legs and sing
a song (both hallmarks of every film she ever
made) an entire sequence -- which was not in the
stage original -- was concocted for this film
version. In this sequence, Leonard finds Christine
performing in a rundown Berlin cabaret during
WWII. After being pawed by a troupe of American
soldiers, the scene unfolds as a chivalrous yet
uncomfortably romantic bit of drivel in which
Christine invites Leonard to her bedroom, actually
a bombed out basement apartment. Leonard sits on a
portion of Christine's bed that is holding up the
entire decrepit wall -- which demolishes both the
bed and the apartment in one fell swoop. The
sequence is supposed to flesh out and endear the
relationship between these two, but its overall
effect is one of tactless ignorance and thorough
disengagement.
As pure cinema, "Witness for the Prosecution"
would be moderately entertaining if it weren't for
the fact that MGM has once again provided
consumers with the short end of the proverbial
stick. A non-anamorphic DVD transfer, riddled with
aliasing, edge enhancement and pixelization
detours from the DVD's many highlights, including
a reasonably well balanced grayscale and a mono
soundtrack that is amply provided for. Of course,
there are no extras. From a studio that generally
does not even provide a slip insert listing
chapter breaks, was there any doubt about the lack
of extra features? |
