‘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.

FYI: I put my movie overflow on my public FB movie page. 

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

 

Super Star Gazing in "The Mirror Crack’d" 1980

Miss Marple in "The Mirror Crack'd" turned out to be a sneak preview for
"Murder, She Wrote" and its star Angela Lansbury.

The 1980 take on the thrice-told The Mirror Crack’d looks better in retrospect than it did on release. While not in the same league as the ’74 classic, Murder on the Orient Express, this Mirror is worth a look.

Judging from reviews in recent years of The Mirror Crack’d, the film’s reputation has improved, versus the poor initial reception. When this Agatha Christie adaptation came out Christmas 1980, the response was cool, after Orient Express.1978’s Death on the Nile got a better response, though disappointing, too. When Mirror opened, without exotic locations or younger stars, Mirror’s English village and middle-aged cast seemed mild, at best.

Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak are dueling divas Marina and Lola, with Rock Hudson
as the poor director!

Some Agatha Christie fans have criticized this take on Mirror as unfaithful to the novel, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Considering that the movie Mirror was conceived as a vehicle for the superstar cast, the streamlined version does keep the core story. The time frame is set back a decade—so what? And making Marina and Lola actress old enemies instead of casual, catty acquaintances is a brilliant way of condensing the story and heightening its tension. Even the two British TV remakes, more true to the book, lifted a few things from this film.

The Mirror Crack’d investigates several murders and further attempts that indicate someone is trying to kill the leading lady of a movie production. Luckily, the film folk are in proximity of ace amateur detective, Miss Marple!

Miss Marple, played by Angela Lansbury at 55, has the solution for every mystery.

Mirror benefited from lovely British locations and a stellar supporting cast that feel authentic to another era. Ironically, it’s the ‘50s star quartet who literally looks a bit generic. Taylor and Novak’s costumes, while flattering, don’t feel fab fifties at all. Hudson looks like ‘70s Rock, and Tony Curtis wears his usual bizarre suits that predate Prince’s one-of-a-kind duds. Novak sports her Lylah Clare wig and Elizabeth got Alexandre of Paris to recycle her spiky Boom! bouffant. The leading ladies wore their fave late ‘60s ‘dos, however, the film is set in 1953.

Kim, Rock, and ET in a candid shot promoting "The Mirror Crack'd."
Of the three, Rock looks best here, better than he did in the actual film!

Before the Internet and 24 hour news cycle, stars were not in our eyes 24/7. Post-Watergate reporting style on public figures had taken hold, but technology hadn’t—yet! So, back in 1980, it was one thing to see Elizabeth Taylor Warner as an overweight political wife in the tabloids, but quite another to see “Liz” looking “larger than life” on the big screen. Add dissipated Tony Curtis, distinctly middle-aged Rock Hudson, and a still-curvaceous but slightly drag queen-esque Kim Novak, all sharing the screen. For audiences, to watch their middle-aged idols, playing ‘50s movie folk, then deemed depressing. As time went by, Elizabeth, Rock, Kim, and Tony went from first viewed as falling stars, to a last chance to watch such Hollywood greats together. As a bonus, add Angela Lansbury, who soon became a beloved institution after Murder, She Wrote.

It's showbiz folk versus village sleuths in "The Mirror Crack'd."

The Mirror Crack’d was filmed the summer of 1980. At 48, Elizabeth Taylor had trimmed down a bit from her all-time high of 180-plus pounds as Senator Warner’s fried-chicken lovin’ wife. By next spring, Taylor would be down over 40 pounds for her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes. In Mirror, I’d say ET’s about half way there, and the extra weight shows more in her body than face.

They say film acting is all in the eyes. Well, ET knew how to wield those famous violet eyes!

The biggest departure from the Christie mystery was screenwriter Barry Sandler’s tweaking the story to “mirror” the legendary ‘50s stars. In the book, Taylor’s Marina Gregg was already a multi-married, middle-aged movie star making a comeback. Marina’s newest marriage and pastoral home are supposed to offer the star stability. All this sure sounds like Elizabeth Taylor Warner to me! What Sandler added was cracks about Marina’s weight and her abuse of pills. Though Marina’s nerves call for constant doses of “Calmo” in the novel, the film makes greater references to Marina/Elizabeth’s prodigious pill use. Was this already common knowledge in the business? I wonder, since Betty Ford was only three years away for ET.

Life imitated art when, in the film, Taylor’s star is referred to as Marina Gregg, but the credits list her as Marina Rudd, after the character’s latest husband, Jason Rudd. Off screen, Elizabeth reportedly requested to be billed as Elizabeth Taylor Warner, but was turned down by the studio. In retrospect, good call!

The recycled humor of  "The Mirror Crack'd" is hardly highbrow, but mildly amusing.

Considering Taylor’s latter day flair for bitchy comedy, Marina’s zingers are the least zesty aspect of her performance. This is partly because screenwriter Sandler’s wit is a bit wanting—it comes off like bitchy “ba-dum-tss” drag show patter. More than a few stale show biz jokes get recycled here, such as Taylor gazing in the mirror, wearily wishing: “Bags, bags, go away. Come right back on Doris Day.” The camera cuts to a mild double take of frequent Day co-star Rock Hudson. Director Guy Hamilton sets up the dramatic moments better than those with a comedic tempo, which comes across as abrupt or intrusive.

Maureen Bennett as Heather Babcock, Marina Gregg's biggest fan!

Still, Marina Gregg is one of Elizabeth’s best latter day portrayals. I read an interview with director Hamilton, who had great affection for Taylor, about the making of Mirror. Guy said that Elizabeth was indeed full-bodied, and though she was a good sport to spoof her figure, he instructed the camera man to take time to photograph her still-beautiful face for her big scenes. This wasn’t common practice once ‘70s realism came into vogue, and striking the balance between cinema verite and star vanity was just converging in the ‘80s. Taylor’s grand entrance, plus the extended scene where Marina is transfixed by what the first murder victim-to-be shared, is visually most generous toward Taylor. The violet flowered turban may be a bit much, but Taylor sported such headgear in her heyday. Elizabeth’s face is framed flatteringly here, and she knowingly raises her chin up when a local photographer requests a snap of the star. When Taylor’s Marina has her startling epiphany, Elizabeth uses those fabled eyes expertly.

Taylor's troubled star, Marina Gregg, has her big moment of revelation.

Post-murder, Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox) comes to interview Marina. This set piece offers Elizabeth Taylor a mini acting marathon. The scene begins simply, but Taylor gradually becomes hysterical. The movie fan inspector plays along for a bit, and then exposes her ruse. Marina’s recycling a dramatic moment from one of her old movies. Elizabeth’s Marina response is a raucous Taylor cackle. ET also just spoofed her own “emotional” movie image. Marina seemingly comes clean, showing the detective threats she’s received, which reminds her of a painful childhood incident. Taylor plays this scene in her most open style.

"You didn't!" ET is terrific in this extended scene, twitting the Inspector for not falling for her "act."

Kim Novak has a comic field day as Lola Brewster, a no-talent hack and tough broad, who is arch enemies with Taylor’s Marina. Novak, who made a career of being breathy, hesitant, and vulnerable, is obviously enjoying herself as the superficial Lola. It’s lucky for Joan Collins that Dynasty producers didn’t cast Kim as super bitch Alexis. It would have made Blake Carrington look a bit like John Derek, with a harem of past and present blonde wives, but Kim might have been quite marvelous! Anyway, Novak preens, parries, and thrusts that still-fabulous body, while skewering everyone in sight. First up is her reunion (next round) with Marina, with cracks about each other’s age, hair, weight, and just about everything else. Kim gets to be the comic to Taylor’s straight woman retorts. I love Kim’s line reading of this catty question to ET: “So, tell me. How does it feel to be back, after being gone for so-ooo long?”

As Lola, Kim Novak checks out her "Lylah Clare" wig, while Tony Curtis' producer makes them a drink.

Kim’s vamping and evading the detective’s questions is nearly upstaged by the pushed-up Novak knockers! Kim is again quite funny, with her husky voice pitched so low that you think she’s channeling The Legend of Lylah Clare. When the Inspector Craddock brings up an unpleasant past incident, when she fired a gun at Marina, Kim’s delivery of this line is a hoot: “So, I was a little miffed!” When Novak’s Lola isn’t sparring with Taylor’s Marina, or toying with the detective, she blasts Hudson’s director, that she could eat a can of Kodak and puke a better film! Novak and her onscreen husband, Tony Curtis’ crass producer, are both amusing caricatures. Kim’s deep voice and vamping, and Tony, dressed in black, including a fedora, remind me of Natasha and Boris Badenov!

Whatever Lola Brewster wants, Lola gets! Tony Curtis  goes gangsta as producer Marty Fenn!

Tony's inspiration?

Ruta Lee: A contender for Lola Brewster?

Kim Novak, 47 when Mirror was made, had recently wowed Oscar audiences with a trimmer than ever figure in a black sheath gown. It’s obvious from the candid shots that Kim hadn’t gone down the plastic surgery road just yet. Guy Hamilton also plays to Kim’s strengths favorably. With her favorite page boy wig, skin tight clothes, and stylized makeup, Kim came away with the kudos for her appearance in this Mirror.

What's bothering Taylor's Marina more... Novak's Lola or that painting in the background?

Rock Hudson, usually a warm, sympathetic screen presence, plays a bit of a departure here. As director Jason Rudd, Hudson’s character is challenged: directing an emotionally fragile wife trying for a comeback; keeping a voracious ex-girlfriend at arm’s length; tangling with crass producer; and keeping his secretary close, but not too close. One thing that may complicate things—is Jason the murderer? Hudson has a number of scenes where his character is distant, very effectively making you wonder if he’s more than just an unfaithful husband. As Jason Rudd, Rock has a number of scenes where he’s comically yelling on the phone or the set. When we wonder what Rock’s up to in the quiet scenes, that’s when Hudson is most effective.

Rock Hudson as Jason Rudd, director and long suffering husband of Taylor's Marina Gregg.

Tony Curtis is the natural comedian in The Mirror Crack’d, as crass, fast-talking Marty Fenn. I’ve never cared much for Curtis as a person, but admire his flair for comedy and strengths as a dramatic actor. Tony seems to be enjoying his bad self here, taking pot shots at the industry, and has a deflective one-liner for every occasion. Like Kim Novak, Tony has the cartoonish comic role, and both perform as well as they can, given the material.

Tony Curtis as slick producer Martin N. Fenn, whose middle initial stands for... Nothing!

Angela Lansbury makes a fine Miss Marple, but even she got nitpicked by some critics at the time. There were complaints that Marple got sidelined by an ankle injury was a story liability. Some considered Lansbury too young and that the old age makeup was a stunt. I think Miss Marple is integrated into the mystery and Angela’s makeup is realistic, as well. Lansbury’s scenes with Edward Fox, as her nephew Inspector Craddock, show a nice rapport, in solving the mystery together. Angela’s owlish features also lend itself to playing an older woman, and she shows a both serious and humorous side as the brilliant armchair detective. You just automatically believe Angela as Miss Marple, the grand matriarch of her village and home. There were supposed to be more Miss Marple movies with Lansbury but Mirror’s demise ended that line of thought. Still, it proved to be a great dry run for Angela Lansbury’s mid-career comeback as Jessica Fletcher.

Angela Lansbury as Miss Jane Marple, who I thought was terrific, as usual.

Geraldine Chaplin is well-cast as the neurotic, mousy secretary, having a not-so-secret affair with Marina’s husband. Chaplin gives snap to her many catty lines, most of them aimed at divas Marina and Lola. She definitely has a way with a comic delivery, never becoming tiresome. Geraldine also creates some sympathy for the character, as Ella is clearly in love with Jason, and she’s obviously just a shoulder for his ego to cry on. Again, amidst the campy humor, Geraldine Chaplin creates a real character here in Ella Zielinsky.

Along with her crisp way with a catty one liner, Geraldine Chaplin is also touching as Ella.

Edward Fox, often the villain, is endearing as the occasionally clueless Inspector Craddock. His flustered scenes with Novak’s brash Lola are funny, and Fox seems to have great fun in his big scene with Taylor’s diva, Marina.

Edward Fox is fun as the inspector who is frequently outwitted by his Aunt Jane Marple!

The Mirror Crack’d boasts a supporting cast of character actors: Margaret Courtenay as Mrs. Bantry, the pickle puss who’s given up her house to Marina and Jason; Charles Lloyd-Pack as the vicar, Maureen Bennett in her film debut as Marina Gregg’s biggest fan, Heather Babcock; Wendy Morgan as Miss Marple’s maid, Cherry; and plus great cameos from the “cast” of Murder at Midnight, the fun film-within-a-film. These actors and more bring some atmospheric heft to this lightweight mystery.

And how about Pierce Brosnan in his first role, as Marina’s Mary Queen of Scots paramour, with big ‘80s hair! Pierce later said he lost 35 pounds after seeing himself onscreen—five when he got a haircut?

The second most embarrassing moment of Pierce Brosnan's career? In his first movie,
Pierce probably made Elizabeth Taylor jealous that his hair was bigger!

Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, and Angela Lansbury were at a lull in their careers when they made The Mirror Crack’d in 1980 and what came after was significant for all.

Three years after Mirror was released, Elizabeth Taylor became the first celebrity to go public about going into the Betty Ford Clinic, for severe drug and alcohol issues. Ironic, since Taylor had recently played a movie star addict Marina in Mirror and an alcoholic divorcee in ‘83’s Between Friends. Elizabeth Taylor found much needed sobriety, went on to become an AIDS activist, perfume mogul, and even tried one more marriage—and reclaimed her great beauty until old age and illness finally set in. Elizabeth died at age 79 in 2011.

Elizabeth Taylor at Cannes, 7 years after "The Mirror Crack'd,"
in 1987, at the height of her Betty Ford renaissance.

Rock Hudson, looked distinguished in his middle age here, in spite of his years of heavy drinking and smoking. In reality, Rock had only a few more years until he was diagnosed with AIDS, the first film star to admit to the disease. Less than five years after the release of Mirror, Hudson was gone, but Rock put a famous face on the AIDS epidemic. Since 1985, Hudson’s plight as an actor in the closeted era has been viewed with greater empathy, as well.

Rock Hudson's legacy runs the gamut of putting a famous face on AIDS, to classic comedies
with Doris Day, to films with Douglas Sirk, and "Giant," with BFF Elizabeth Taylor!

Like Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis had yet to find sobriety, and looks much older in Mirror than fellow former Universal heartthrob Hudson. Curtis, Hudson, and Lansbury were all born in 1925, age 55 the year that Mirror was made. Tony eventually did straighten up and fly right, got plastic surgery, and his thinning, dyed black hair was replaced by a luxurious silver wig. Tony Curtis continued to work and tell tall tales about his life in show biz until his death in 2010.

Tony Curtis in "The Mirror Crack'd."

Tony, sober and silver!

At the time of Mirror, Kim Novak was considered a well-preserved, but lightweight star. A few years later, with the restoration of Vertigo and its ongoing revivals, Kim’s reputation as an actress was revitalized. As for Kim’s later cosmetic enhancements, Novak looked great without looking overdone until the last decade or so. It’s puzzling that Kim went this far, as she’s seldom acted onscreen since she left Hollywood in the mid-1960s. Novak lives in Washington, long happily married and a talented painter, too. Kim Novak has opened up over the years about her issues and seems happy today, at 86 in 2019. 

Kim Novak was in great shape at the 1980 Oscars, in a gown by Ron Talsky,
who was dating Raquel Welch at the time... he knew his curves!
Nearly 40 years later, Kim is still renowned as a classic Hitchcock blonde.

And who would guess that character actress Angela Lansbury would be the star to enjoy the greatest career renaissance. People talk, and rightly so, about Joan Collins’ huge TV comeback as Alexis Carrington on Dynasty. But even more extraordinary was Lansbury’s megahit with Murder, She Wrote. Angie’s show outlasted Dynasty by 3.5 seasons, 12 total years, plus four Jessica Fletcher TV movies after the show ended. Lansbury also had great control over the show, and her renewed stardom led to a slew of TV movies, a memorable turn as Teapot in Beauty and the Beast. When the series ended, she was an even bigger draw where she had the most success, the stage. And Angela still acts at age 95!

The financial failure of "The Mirror Crack'd" ended the idea of
more Miss Marple movies, but if only Angela Lansbury knew what lie ahead!

So, if you’re in the mood for a light, comedic take on an Agatha Christie murder mystery, enjoy some great star gazing in The Mirror Crack’d.

When Elizabeth Taylor was cast as a washed up actress, some unkind souls called it typecasting.
The next year, ET trimmed down and took on Broadway in 'The Little Foxes.'
And that was just the beginning of the last act of Elizabeth Taylor!