Witness for the Prosecution (1982 film)
| Witness for the Prosecution | |
|---|---|
| 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(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Norman Rosemont Nick Gillott (associate producer) |
| Cinematography | Arthur Ibbetson |
| Editor(s) | Peter Boyle |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Production company(s) |
CBS Entertainment Production Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions Rosemont Productions United Artists Television |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | December 4, 1982 |
Witness for the Prosecution is a 1982 TV movie version of Agatha Christie's short story and play, and also a remake of the Billy Wilder film Witness for the Prosecution (1957).
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.
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.
The cast includes many veteran and well-known actors such as Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Diana Rigg, Donald Pleasence, 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.
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