Witness for the Prosecution

An aging, celebrated British barrister, Sir Wilfrid Robarts, has only just returned home from a long hospital stay, under the watchful eye of his nurse, Miss Plimsoll, and under strict orders to avoid stimulating criminal work. He is asked to defend Leonard Vole, a young man accused of murdering a wealthy older widow, Emily French, apparently so that he might inherit her fortune. What pulls Sir Wilfrid into the case is not only the weakness of the evidence but the strange position of Vole's wife, Christine, who ought to provide his alibi and instead becomes a witness against him.

Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Harry Kurnitz, and the film stands as the tenth of the twenty-two features he directed, following The Seven Year Itch and preceding Love in the Afternoon. Tyrone Power plays Vole, Marlene Dietrich plays Christine, Charles Laughton plays Sir Wilfrid, and Elsa Lanchester plays Miss Plimsoll, in a credited cast that runs to sixty-four performers. Arthur Hornblow Jr. produced for United Artists.

Made for about 3 million dollars, the film returned roughly 9 million worldwide. Audiences hold it in high regard on both major platforms, with 8.4 out of 10 on IMDb across more than 133,000 votes and 8.2 out of 10 on TMDB, while a critics' rating of 8.7 out of 10 from forty reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.