Witness for the Prosecution
directed by Billy Wilder
screenplay by Billy Wilder and Harry Kurnitz and Larry Marcus
based on the play by Agatha Christie

        There is some argument allowable for the sanctity of surprise endings and the importance of people either not spoiling them for others or at least warning when about to do so. This secrecy, though, should stop taking so much precedence over the importance of any movie as a whole. At Sundance, I was made to sign a promise not to divulge the ending of Old Boy but I am sure that I would have enjoyed the movie having known it. On the other hand the expectation of a surprise in Million Dollar Baby might have actually lessened my attention to the overall picture and in the end, I had decided that the Oscar winner wasn’t worth it. I like seeing a movie that I haven’t even an inkling of the premise let alone the ending, but plot points and twists rarely raise the quality of a picture, no matter how creative.
          I like the ability to turn on a film halfway through and have it capture my attention. I also like, without frustration, the ability to turn off or interrupt a film if I don’t have the time or opportunity to finish it. I don’t prefer to see only pieces of movies, but I do appreciate when I can turn on TCM at any time and begin watching whatever is playing. I am grateful that I did in fact rent Witness for the Prosecution and saw it in its entirety without knowing the ending. But I am positive that it could have attracted me from any scene and whether or not I knew the surprise. To me, that makes Wilder’s film a much better investment than most others that rely on the twist as a destination instead of a part of the ride.
      If there is a crutch for Witness it is the character of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, brilliantly performed by Charles Laughton. The lawyer is far more enjoyable and more important than the trial in the same way Detective Nick Charles (of The Thin Man series) is more memorable than any of his cases. Part of the reason may be their verbal sparring partners. For Robarts it is his nurse Miss Plimsoll, played by Laughton’s real-life spouse, Elsa Lanchester. In any screenplay this relationship would work, but here their playful spite compliments and contrasts the marriage of supposed murderer Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) and his icy wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich, who always amuses me since I’d seen her parodied in Blazing Saddles before any of her films).
       I guess in a way someone might tell me that My Cousin Vinny has similar qualities to Witness for the Prosecution. I admit that I can’t help watching Joe Pesci disreputably defend those innocent boys and bicker with his conscientious fiancé even though I rarely hold the comedy in esteem. What I credit more to the older film is an osmotic transmission of character, which gets into and develops in the back of your mind. We can assume that Sir Wilfrid’s thermos is full of brandy rather than cocoa –in opposition to doctor’s orders –without needing Wilder’s slightly winking direction. For even if it weren’t, the humorous idea of the man’s insubordination should be in our minds because the character is so well defined that we seem to know him as much as the nurse does. But my tribute to the predictability of Sir Wilfrid should not contradict my recognition of the other characters’ density. So meticulous and vague, both, they not so much deceive us or divert our judgements with what they say as much as how we see them and they perceive each other and themselves. It is hard not to put yourself in the shoes of a juror, continually changing your opinion of the defendant and each witness.
          Going back for a second viewing of Witness for the Prosecution does not reveal clues or able the ending to make more sense. Yet, there are sequences that have more depth to them in regards to percipience of character relative to those found in Citizen Kane, Rashomon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For a critic as appreciative of intent point-of-view storytelling as myself, this nearly invisible ingredient is a deal breaker. Deal breakers elevate good movies to great ones. A good movie will keep me thinking as the plot twists do. A good movie will keep me entertained as Laughton and Lanchester do. A great movie, like Witness for the Prosecution, will bathe my senses with so many levels of goodness that my responsiveness will not be ceased easily or quickly. I’d say this one’s got me for a couple days at least.