Witness for the Prosecution

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1982

1h 36m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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40%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Ralph Richardson) is an ailing but brilliant criminal lawyer who decides to work on the intriguing case of Leonard Vole (Beau Bridges), an amiable young man accused of knocking off an affluent widow. Unfortunately, as Sir Wilfrid prepares to defend Leonard, he is startled to learn that his defendant's wife wants to divorce her husband just to testify against him. As Sir Wilfrid's kindly nurse (Deborah Kerr) tries to keep his spirits up, the case keeps getting stranger.

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Glafira Regina O

I recently wrote about the identical film from 1952. So, what's wrong with this one? Well, almost all the dialogues—literally almost all—are copied from the older version. Even the movements in some scenes are identical. Meanwhile, the acting is much worse—much more lackluster. The charisma is gone. So, the conclusion is that this is an extremely unsuccessful color plagiarism of the original film.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/04/24

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Simon T

Despite the obvious TV Movie of the Week budget, this is a very well acted version of Agatha Christie's ludicrously plotted whodunnit. Ralph Richardson, in one of his last screen roles, is perfect as the wily old defence barrister, and is blessed with a terrific supporting cast of A-list thesps, including Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence, Beau Bridges and Diana Rigg. It zips along and stands easy comparison with Billy Wilder's more famous original.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/01/24

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Alan Gibson

Director

Ralph Richardson

Sir Wilfred Robarts

Deborah Kerr

Nurse Plimsoll

Beau Bridges

Leonard Vole

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Synopsis

Director: Alan Gibson
Production Co: CBS Entertainment Productions, Rosemont Productions, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, United Artists Television
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 26, 2017
Runtime: 1h 36m

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Witness for the Prosecution

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