Typical 1980s American TV movie lifted only slightly because it's mostly filmed in the UK and has superior British acting talent in the minor roles.Ralph Richardson was obviously very ill when he decided to do this and sleepwalks through the part of Sir Wilfred Robarts. Diana Rigg and Deborah Kerr are just ridiculous characters, Bridges is the token 'Yank', and a host of other excellent British actors are buried under the weight of poor writing and direction.Written (supposedly from Billy Wilder's screenplay) this mess is best used as a way to look at London tourist spots if you can't be bothered to go there! "Ooh, look... there's Harrods. I buy my gloves from there!" Almost every other version of this excellent short story is better than this purile nonsense which has been specifically tailor-made for an American 'Sunday evening' audience.The only value this movie has is seeing some marvelous British actors do their thing but their efforts are entirely wasted on this nonsense.Treat yourself to the Billy Wilder version with Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Elsa Lanchester made 70 years ago. It's a million times better than this cartoon silliness.

The play is a lot of fun that keeps you guessing until the end, and Billy Wilder's film is one of the best Agatha Christie film adaptations in my opinion. So this TV film had much to live up to. And it did so in a worthy way, and generally compares favourably. The music score can be a little too obtrusive sometimes, but the biggest problem was Beau Bridges who is much too laid-lack, nowhere near shady enough and he doesn't have the slick charm, charisma or even handsome enough looks to have three women falling for him. Tyrone Power however did have those things. However, the film is very well photographed and looks evocative and wholly professional in how it was made. The direction is careful and meticulous but never resorting to stodginess. The dialogue is intelligent and sometimes funny, the courtroom scenes are well paced and compelling and while the chemistry between Richardson and Rigg is not quite as dynamic as Laughton and Dietrich and perhaps a little too teasing it is still sharp and intense.The story keeps you guessing, no matter how familiar you are with the story or not, coming from somebody who's seen the play twice and the Wilder film at least seven times the story was suspensefully and grippingly told which was what I was looking for really. The flashbacks didn't harm anything at all. I also don't mind it being word for word, screen for screen as it is well made stuff and has a good cast to carry it. I can understand why people would be dubious though, as I admittedly was too, seeing as the remake of Psycho was also word for word screen for screen and even shot for shot and it was an awful film because it had no sense of suspense or terror and the cast was bad, which was not the case here. In fact, apart from Bridges, the cast were very good. Ralph Richardson gives a quieter and perhaps more subtle performance than Charles Laughton, and it was a convincing approach and he still gives an enigmatic and twitchy performance as a result.Though admittedly I do prefer the more shrewd and gleeful performance of Laughton who made the already great dialogue even funnier by his comic delivery alone. Diana Rigg is also very good and delightfully wicked, probably the member of the cast that I remember. She isn't quite as successful as Marlene Dietrich with the Cockney-voiced lady but takes a very noble stab at it with some clever direction, with Dietrich she succeeded in using a completely different voice which compensated for the little attempt taken to disguise her distinctive nose. Deborah Kerr is in a different role, but does so in a fun and charming performance with good chemistry with Richardson, while Donald Pleasance's prosecutor is appropriately cunning and thoughtfully observed. Wendy Hiller is very sweet and dotty. All in all, of course there were times that weren't quite there but this Witness for the Prosecution is still very worthy and compares favourably.8/10 Bethany Cox

I benefited by watching the 1957 version and this one within hours of each other. Each has it's weaknesses and strengths. The major weakness IMO of this version was the music used. It intruded and didn't match the mood of the story. Though Ralph Richardson's portrayal doesn't have the bravado of Charles Laughton's, he brought a quiet conviction to the part. Beau Bridges was compared unfavorably to Tyrone Power but he (Bridges) showed the boyish charm that would take in a lonely older woman who would want to mother him or even marry him. Power came across as more mature and world weary though he did bring his own brand of charm to the part. Diana Rigg was very good but I felt Marlene Dietrich in the 1957 film was the better actress, especially, as a native German speaker, she was able to pull off a Cockney (or near enough) accent. People have said the scene where Sir Wilfred meets the "Cockney" woman differed and that the 1957 version was the correct and superior one have got it wrong. This version's meeting is the one in the short story the movies were based on. Never having seen the play or read a copy I can't say which meeting was used in it but I do own the book that contains the short story and have recently read it.There are complaints that they followed almost word for word and scene for scene the Wilder version but I don't have a problem with that. A good story is a good story and they wouldn't be the first nor the last to do such a thing.

The better version of Witness For The Prosecution,starring a very remarkable Diana Rigg as a frosty and yet highly intense dark lady,and presenting the most compelling courtroom drama ever seen on the screen,with a duel to death among an ambitious and insinuating prosecutor played with his usual malicious glint by a wonderful Donald Pleasance and a dying and cunning barrister played with vulnerable naughtiness by a titanic Ralph Richardson.The stellar cast is completed by the Gotha of beloved English character actors:Wendy Hiller,Richard Vernon,David Langton,Peter Sallis...even Deborah Kerr in an endearing role of comic relief.A major success,highly deserving a DVD edition,and very curiously far superior to the Billy Wilder version,exceedingly verging on glamor and comedy.