‘Witness for the Prosecution’ 1957

 

Marlene Dietrich & Charles Laughton, fascinating adversaries in "Witness for the Prosecution."

Witness for the Prosecution is the combined talents of two razor sharp artistic minds, Agatha Christie and Billy Wilder. Based on the play from mystery queen Christie’s short story, director/screenwriter Wilder expands on the premise in this terrifically told adaptation. Agatha is aces with her ingenious premise and Billy brings his smart dialogue and telling character detail here. Both are great storytellers and this ’57 version of Witness is still the best of the bunch.

Love how the ads hyped up thrills for what was a smart courtroom drama.

This Witness is an addictively watchable courtroom drama about a shady charmer on trial for murder, with an older wife who may or may not be on his side. More important than the mystery itself—who is most wily, the legendary lawyer with a bad heart, or the suspect’s wife, who seems to have no heart?

Elsa Lanchester & Charles Laughton make a great team as the bickering nurse and barrister. Elsa's character was a Wilder addition to "Witness."

Charles Laughton is great fun to watch as Sir Wilfred, Witness’ irascible lawyer. Wilfred, recovering from a heart attack, is saddled with an officious nurse, Miss Plimsoll, cheerfully played by Elsa Lanchester. Mr. and Mrs. Laughton’s bickering banter offers great comic relief in this courtroom drama. Wilder cited Laughton as his favorite actor to work with, marveling at his inventiveness for characterization. I’d say they were perfect for each other, as Wilder was great at bringing out the best in actors, and Laughton benefitted from directorial restraint. Laughton is most believable as a lawyer possibly facing his last hurrah. Only 58 at the time, he looks very frail and older, much like Spencer Tracy did in his last decade or two. In fact, Charles died five years after this film was released. Laughton gives it his all here and is funny and ferocious.

Marlene Dietrich as the mystery woman, in an Edith Head suit reminiscent
of the designs she created for Alfred Hitchcock's blondes.

The other outstanding performance, surprisingly, is from Marlene Dietrich. Considered a great persona rather than a great actress, Marlene’s cool demeanor is perfect as the seemingly cold-hearted wife. Dietrich and Laughton make a great pair, polar opposites in acting styles, and at odds as characters. As Christine Vole, the wife of the accused, Marlene is the master of restraint. In her “big” moments, Dietrich rises to the occasion. Marlene’s Christine is a character whose motivations are peeled back throughout the film and give Dietrich great opportunities as an actress. Dietrich is deliberately deadpan and snarky in her first scenes, then has some bittersweet moments in a flashback, as Christine’s frosty demeanor begins to thaw for future husband, Leonard. As the story unfolds, Christine is anything but the aloof wife. The plot twists in the last act were urged to be kept secret by the filmmakers, and some felt this cost Dietrich an Oscar nomination. Realistically, I question that, as Marlene was no longer a full-time Hollywood actress, but her performance definitely rated one.

Dietrich recalls her WWII era & gender-bending fashion in a "Witness" flashback.

 My only caveat with Dietrich in Witness is her appearance. Marlene was the forerunner to today’s actresses, whose faces are pulled tighter than a drum. During filming Marlene was 56. With her wigs and skin pulls, she looked neither old nor young, but “somewhere between 40 and death,” as Mame opines of bosom buddy Vera Charles. Still, Dietrich’s far too old in the flashback scene, with her as the sex bomb performer, and Power as the “young” soldier. Watching a second time, I got past her drag queen looks in the flashback, with her measured responses to Power's character, who’s trying to win her over. Dietrich projects a quiet strength beneath the cool veneer. Edith Head, an Alfred Hitchcock favorite, designs tailored costumes for Marlene Dietrich that cause the film seem even more Hitch-like!

Marlene has some sweet moments in her flashback scene, despite wearing the most obvious wig since Barbara Stanwyck in Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity!"

Hollywood’s fun house mirror regarding age is one of my movie pet peeves. Dietrich refers to the victim as that “old woman” even though they were nearly the same age. At 22, Ruta Lee was the other woman, paired with Power at age 43, and up against Dietrich at 56! Laughton refers to Power as “young man,” which only calls attention to Ty’s age.

Dietrich w/Tyrone Power, from a "Witness" promo shoot that looks like they're for a pulp novel cover. Marlene's "ageless"appearance seems to have inspired today's divas!

Tyrone Power, as murder suspect Leonard Vole, is supposed to be boyishly charming and handsome—also, a ne’er-do-well, which he freely admits. This is a tricky type of role to pull off and still retain audience sympathy. Power had that quality as an actor. However, Leonard, as a recent vet, should be 30-ish. Ty was 43 and frankly looked at least a decade older. This makes his character seem like a case of arrested development. Still, Power was still box office and was cast after William Holden turned the role down. Richard Burton, who was not box office at the time, but a decade younger and far more talented, would have been brilliant as the charismatic cad.

Tyrone Power's first close-up as charming young cad Leonard Vole. Ty was just 43.

Witness for the Prosecution would be Power's last completed role and he died of a massive heart attack on the set of Solomon and Sheba. It's a shock to see Power in close up the first time in Witness. Here, his once lean figure and good looks now look bloated and slightly jowly. With dark bags under his eyes and black hair slicked back, Ty looks like he's about to turn into Mr. Hyde in his more dramatic moments. Power acts the charming boy well enough, but his dissipation undercuts him. In the subtle moments, Power’s performing is quite good, such as his smarmy expression at the finale, when Leonard’s wife pleads with him not to leave her. For his big dramatic moments, Power falls short, he's just not enough of a grand performer to pull them off, and it’s just bad acting. 

Tyrone Power's attempts at bravura acting make him look like Mr. Hyde! 

Power had been a top star right out of the box for over 20 years. Ty was rather like Rock Hudson in that he was well-liked, unpretentious, and very professional. Like Hudson, Ty's great looks were off-set by a genuine warmth and low-key charm, and un-self conscious about his physical appeal. Ty and Rock yearned to stretch artistically and be more than the handsome hero. Both did stage work and also performed in passion projects that went against their image: Power in '47's Nightmare Alley and Hudson in '66's Seconds. Both were bleak films that were dumped into theaters and bombed. They are now cult classics. 

What a shame Witness for the Prosecution wasn’t filmed a decade earlier, Marlene and Power would have been perfectly cast. This would have been the era that Wilder and Dietrich teamed for A Foreign Affair and Tyrone Power was trying to broaden his range as a villain Nightmare Alley. But alas, the play version of Witness hadn’t been written yet!

What do they see that's so frightening?!

The characters, from the aging barrister and all his ailments, right down to the housekeeper and murder victim, are funny, quirky, and human. This is what makes this straight forward courtroom drama interesting. Billy Wilder marveled at Christie's model of construction, but astutely noted her writing was flat when it came to characterization. And this was one of Wilder's gifts as a screenwriter. Much of the memorable detail in Witness originated with this film adaptation.

Ruta Lee is light years away from her brassy blonde persona as the other woman.
 Love the blase look on Power's face as Leonard's wife begs him not to leave her.

A superb cast of British character actors are scene stealers here: Henry Daniell, John Williams, Ian Wolfe, Torin Thatcher, Francis Compton, Phillip Tonge, and especially cranky Una O’ Connor and droll Norma Varden as the victim, Mrs. French. The lone young star is Ruta Lee in her brunette starlet phase and she’s pretty innocuous, but figures in the finale. Witness got six Oscar nominations, four in major categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.

Another Best Director Oscar nomination for Billy Wilder.

Interesting that two years later, similarly Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Murder was also based on a real life crime that centered on a duplicitous married couple with an army background. Like Anatomy, there’s not much mystery as to WHO dunnit, but there’s more here than meets the eye of barrister’s blinding monocle. Wilder’s take on Witness of the Prosecution is still the winning version.

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The makeup man got a bit carried away. Her hand looks like it belongs to the bride of Mr. Hyde!

 

‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ 1956

 

“They’re here already! You’re next, you’re next… you’re next!”

This Invasion was the first and by far the best of the many versions of this familiar film story. The ’56 Invasion of the Body Snatchers is simply, but strongly told. And the Don Siegel-directed version holds up well, much like that other classic multi-layered paranoia thriller, 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Dana Wynter's Becky looks like she's getting her brain washed!

***Subtle spoilers throughout!***

At 80 minutes and for less than a half a million dollars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers makes the most of its running time and low budget. Those involved in this Invasion of the Body Snatchers surely knew they were making more than a B horror film. But they could have no idea that this tale of a town taken over by “pod” people would become such a cult classic.

Dana Wynter & Kevin McCarthy's characters are now in the minority.

Despite varying opinions from the film’s participants, as to whether Body Snatchers was a commentary on the "commie scare," communism itself, or anti-conformism, this movie was made in a time when all this and more was going on in post-war America, and the world. The era most definitely informs the feeling of paranoia this film.

Don Siegel's no-nonsense direction may not be the most stylish, but it also doesn't date the movie, like some of the more heavy-handed directors of the era. The only real flaw of the film was the studio-mandated prologue and epilogue. The original ending depicted McCarthy’s Miles escaping from his hometown to a highway, running among disbelieving drivers as he shouts: “They’re here already! You’re next, you’re next… you’re next!”

Get your pods, right off the truck!

Like the same year’s The Bad Seed, which offered an equally absurd epilogue to show audiences it was “only” a movie, Body Snatchers’ studio suits decided it was too bleak an ending, so a call comes in to where Miles is being treated, and confirms his wild accusations. It nearly feels like a Dragnet parody.

The ‘50s “smart” romantic dialogue seems a spoof by today's standards, but was probably played straight at the time. However, there are some thoughtful, as well as chilling, quotes about humanity and giving up what makes us human.

One of several timeless lines from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Kevin McCarthy is Dr. Miles J. Bennell, who offers this startling line: “I've seen how people have allowed their humanity to drain away. Only it happened slowly instead of all at once. They didn't seem to mind... All of us—a little bit—we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear.”

Doesn't Kevin McCarthy look a bit like his pal Montgomery Clift here?

I grew up watching Kevin McCarthy play charming creeps, so to see him as the good guy fighting off the eerie pod people was a jolt. McCarthy is one of those actors who had a long career, often typecast as the oily villain, in film and television work of variable quality. Off-camera, the character actor had a fascinating personal life. At age 4, McCarthy lost both of his parents to the Spanish Flu epidemic, just before WWI ended. Kevin’s sister was novelist Mary McCarthy, author of The Group. McCarthy was a co-founder of The Actor’s Studio. For a number of years, Kevin’s best friend was Montgomery Clift, until the actor’s erratic behavior eroded their friendship. Kevin and Elizabeth Taylor climbed into Monty’s mangled car to help him the night of his life-changing car accident. He later reunited with Clift in the legendary The Misfits. Kevin’s breakout role was as Biff in the classic drama, Death of a Salesman. McCarthy loved acting and lived a long, happy life until the age of 96 in 2010. It’s interesting to watch McCarthy, who was in his early ‘40s in Body Snatchers, since he resembled a white bread version of his pal Monty. It was also a given that by this age, if Kevin was not established as a top leading man, he was going to be a character actor. And Kevin McCarthy did, for nearly 60 more years.

Dana Wynter as Becky shouldn't have fallen asleep!

Dana Wynter is perfectly cast as Miles fiancee, Becky Driscoll. Wynter always struck me as the brunette version of the Hitchcock blonde. Dana was usually cool (sometimes ice cold!), smart, classy, and understatedly sexy. Dana’s cool demeanor is unnerving at the film’s finale. I love Miles noir-like narration of the line: “I didn’t know the real meaning of fear until… until I had kissed Becky!”

 Off-camera, I always found it remarkable that Dana Wynter, a movie starlet turned TV actress, was the woman who landed Hollywood super lawyer and eternal bachelor Greg Bautzer for a husband. For decades, Bautzer was Tinseltown’s most eligible bachelor. Greg had romances with many top actresses, and two serious ones: Lana Turner, and most especially, Joan Crawford. "Uncle Greg" was immortalized in Mommie Dearest and the inspiration for Lyon Burke in Valley of the Dolls. Was it coincidence or clever that Anne, who is Lyon's love interest, was played by Barbara Parkins, who looked and acted a great deal like Dana Wynter?

Dana Wynter was married to
super lawyer/ladies man Greg Bautzer.

Barbara Parkin as Anne, who marries
her super lawyer Lyon in the "Dolls" novel.

Carolyn Jones is intense as the petrified friend who finds a pod growing of her husband. Her later role as the mock horror character Morticia Addams can make you forget what an edgy actress Jones could be. Her jittery performance was exactly how I felt watching this film! Given her early dramatic career and later cult status of The Addams Family, I think that Jones would have enjoyed renewed popularity if she hadn’t died so young of cancer, at 53 in ’83.

Carolyn Jones as a woman who finds she may have another husband in the hopper!

Larry Gates, that great character actor who could either be likeable (Martha Hyer’s charming professor father in Some Came Running) or loathsome (the bigot, Endicott, who gets slapped back In the Heat of the Night), gets to be both as Miles’ fellow doctor in Body Snatchers. His memorable line, as Dr. Kauffman: “Love, desire, ambition, faith –without them, life is so simple, believe me.” O-kay!

The ’56 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers works stunningly as both a straight-forward suspense film and a chilling commentary on mass conformity.

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Every era has its own nightmare, it seems!