This is a TV-remake, and a truly magnificent one I should add, of the awesome 1957 film directed and written-for-the-screen by Billy Wilder. "Witness for the Prosecution" is arguably the greatest courtroom story ever told, or at least on par with only a selected few other landmarks (like "12 Angry Men" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"), but it was originally created as a stay play by the most brilliant writer who ever lived - and that is inarguable, as far as I'm concerned - Agatha Christie.
Luckily, two adaptations later, the story still contains all the brilliant trademarks that are so typically Agatha Christie. Strong women, unreliable people all around, and a couple of unpredictable but beyond intelligent plot twists. It's the story of a stubborn and self-assured senior barrister who, despite his age and ailing health, accepts a seemingly impossible case to defend a charming young man accused of murdering an old spinster for the inheritance. The beautiful wife he adores can provide him with an alibi, but her testimony of a loving wife doesn't carry much weight. When the allegedly loving wife unforeseeably turns against her unsuspecting husband, she suddenly does become a very credible witness... although for the prosecution.
Compelling and full of surprises, even when you already know the story and remember how it ends, that's how I would describe "Witness for the Prosecution". The original landmark starred a few bona fide acting monuments, like Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, but this prestigious TV-remake has an impressive cast as well. There's Ralph Richardson, Beau Bridges, Deborah Kerr, and two of my personal heroes as well, namely Donald Pleasance and Michael Gough. Once again, though, my main admiration goes out to the originally penned down plot by dame Agatha Christie. What a lesson in pure misleading! When you first experience "Witness for the Prosecution" it's simply impossible to predict what'll happen. When you think you have it figured out, you're being deceived, like Sir Wilfred gets deceived by his "monocle method".
Luckily, two adaptations later, the story still contains all the brilliant trademarks that are so typically Agatha Christie. Strong women, unreliable people all around, and a couple of unpredictable but beyond intelligent plot twists. It's the story of a stubborn and self-assured senior barrister who, despite his age and ailing health, accepts a seemingly impossible case to defend a charming young man accused of murdering an old spinster for the inheritance. The beautiful wife he adores can provide him with an alibi, but her testimony of a loving wife doesn't carry much weight. When the allegedly loving wife unforeseeably turns against her unsuspecting husband, she suddenly does become a very credible witness... although for the prosecution.
Compelling and full of surprises, even when you already know the story and remember how it ends, that's how I would describe "Witness for the Prosecution". The original landmark starred a few bona fide acting monuments, like Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, but this prestigious TV-remake has an impressive cast as well. There's Ralph Richardson, Beau Bridges, Deborah Kerr, and two of my personal heroes as well, namely Donald Pleasance and Michael Gough. Once again, though, my main admiration goes out to the originally penned down plot by dame Agatha Christie. What a lesson in pure misleading! When you first experience "Witness for the Prosecution" it's simply impossible to predict what'll happen. When you think you have it figured out, you're being deceived, like Sir Wilfred gets deceived by his "monocle method".