Witness for the Prosecution (1982 film)

*Witness for the Prosecution*
Witness for the Prosecution
	Film poster
Genre	Drama
Written by	Agatha Christie (play); Billy Wilder (1957 screenplay); Harry Kurnitz (1957 screenplay); Lawrence B. Marcus (adaptation) (as Larry Marcus); John Gay (written for television by)
Directed by	Alan Gibson
Starring	Ralph Richardson; Deborah Kerr; Diana Rigg; Beau Bridges; Donald Pleasence
Theme music composer	John Cameron
Country of origin	UK/USA
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Norman Rosemont; Nick Gillott (associate producer)
Production locations	Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England
Cinematography	Arthur Ibbetson
Editor	Peter Boyle
Running time	101 minutes
Production companies	CBS Entertainment Production; Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions; Rosemont Productions; United Artists Television
Distributor	MGM Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	December 4, 1982

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1982 American made-for-television drama film version of Agatha Christie's 1925 short story and 1953 play, and also a remake of the Billy Wilder film Witness for the Prosecution (1957).^[1]^[2]

Plot summary[]

Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister, has just been released from the hospital in which he stayed for two months following a heart attack. Returning to his practise of law, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering his elderly friend, Mrs. Emily French. Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, but his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, becomes the witness for the prosecution and defiantly testifies that her husband is guilty of the murder. Sir Wilfred believes there's something suspicious going on with the case, particularly with Mrs. Vole.

Cast[]

Ralph Richardson as Sir Wilfred Robarts
Deborah Kerr as Miss Plimsoll, the nurse
Diana Rigg as Christine Vole
Beau Bridges as Leonard Vole
Donald Pleasence as Mr. Myers, the prosecutor
Wendy Hiller as Janet Mackenzie, the housekeeper
David Langton as Mayhew, Vole's solicitor
Richard Vernon as Brogan-Moore, Sir Wilfred's colleague
Peter Sallis as the butler, Carter
Michael Gough as the Judge
Frank Mills as Chief Inspector Hearne
Primi Townsend as Diana
Patricia Leslie as Mrs. French

Production[]

The film was directed by Alan Gibson, based on a teleplay by John Gay and the adaptation of Larry Marcus. The musical score was composed by John Cameron.

5 Paper Buildings, Inner Temple, London doubled as Sir Wilfred's chambers^[3]

The cast includes many veteran and well-known actors such as Sir Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Diana Rigg, Donald Pleasence, Dame Wendy Hiller, Peter Sallis and Beau Bridges. Unlike the original Billy Wilder film, the TV version stays more faithful to the original Agatha Christie short story, including the scene where Sir Wilfred meets the scarred woman in an apartment at bad-fame streets of London, instead of meeting a cockney woman at the railway station as in the Wilder version.

This version, also, instead of opening with Sir Wilfrid (renamed "Sir Wilfred") returning home, features an opening prologue where Janet Mackenzie returns to her employer's house, where she sees her laughing and drinking with someone, goes upstairs and takes a pattern from her room, and hears noise from downstairs, and discovers in shock her murdered employer, and the murderer escaped.

This was Ralph Richardson's last appearance in films made for television. Kerr made her American TV production debut with this film.^[4] Alan Gibson, the director of this film, also directed The Satanic Rites of Dracula, where Richard Vernon, who plays the part of Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution, had a small role.

John Gay, the writer of the teleplay, also wrote teleplays for the Lux Video Theatre, a television anthology series. Lux Video Theatre also produced an adaptation of Witness for the Prosecution, in 1953 (four years before the Wilder version).

References[]

^ John J O'Connor (1982-12-03). "Lively Witness for the Prosecution". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^ Tom Shales (1982-12-04). "CBS' Ravaged Witness". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^ IMDb.com, retrieved 29 March 2021
^ Arthur Unger (1982-12-03). "Deborah Kerr talks about her role in an Agatha Christie whodunit". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2019-01-06.

External links[]

[1] John J O'Connor (1982-12-03). "Lively Witness for the Prosecution". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-01-06.

[2] Tom Shales (1982-12-04). "CBS' Ravaged Witness". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-06.

[3] IMDb.com, retrieved 29 March 2021

[4] Arthur Unger (1982-12-03). "Deborah Kerr talks about her role in an Agatha Christie whodunit". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2019-01-06.

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