Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Mute Witness Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 7, 2024

Is there some Hitchcock movie we never knew existed? On the back cover of Mute Witness, some potentially confusing verbiage may make it sound like it, stating the film is "an updated take on the Hitchcockian thriller in which the only witness to a brutal crime can neither speak nor cry out in terror". Now that definite article before the legendary director's surname may help to clarify that "Hitchcockian thriller" is being used as a genre unto itself, but for those still confused and who read that sentence to mean Mute Witness is an update of a specific Hitchcock film, there never was an actual Hitchcock film with this particular premise (at least that I know of), though kind of hilariously there was an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that featured a crying infant as the sole "witness" to a killing. The mute witness in this case is not a baby, but instead an adult makeup artist named Billy Hughes (Marina Zudina) who has the bad luck to be locked in a Moscow studio after hours and who stumbles on a pornographic snuff film being shot (and/or stabbed, as the case may be).

If there is a tether to Hitch's actual filmography with regard to Mute Witness, it may be the legendary director's tendency to feature hapless main characters somehow caught up in a massive conspiracy that often includes murder. Some of these efforts even offer a focal character with some kind of "disability", as in James Stewart's broken leg(s) in Rear Window or his fear of heights in Vertigo, but even granting that Mute Witness builds a decent amount of angst out of its premise, I don't think anyone is going to accuse this film of offering the same sort of consistent style or set pieces that often adorn Hitchcock's films. That said, there are definitely a couple of fun moments, including an opening vignette documenting a horrifying murder which turns out to be a scene in a movie, and a later edit that starts with the downward thrust of a murderous blade toward a victim and which ends with some very rare and bloody steak being sliced open at a restaurant.

Instead, there's a certain economy of scale in both the narrative, which just kind of marauds full tilt boogie from the time that Billy literally stumbles on the snuff film in progress. (I'm not sure why the typically masculine spelling of this name is utilized instead of the way, for example, Ms. Eilish spells it or how this old Patty Duke film did.) Things don't get off to a promising start, though, with a kind of absurdly staged exit by Billy that sees her now stumbling backwards out of the soundstage and of course knocking into things right and left. There may be a couple of other examples of this probably needless anxiety upping (especially when it can come off as actually comical), but the screenplay does a bit better once Billy perhaps surprisingly is able to escape her predicament, at least temporarily.

It's here that the story may actually remind some of another great episode from the annals of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the first season offering "Into Thin Air", which actually featured Pat Hitchcock as a focal character who, yep, finds herself swept up in a conspiracy that at least includes death, if not murder. "Into Thin Air" was based on the so-called Legend of the Vanishing Lady, which also provided the source for So Long at the Fair*. The salient point is that while in this case Billy insists she saw a murder and there must be evidence, once investigators start poking around the soundstage, they find nothing, and things don't even look the way Billy has indicated. (Billy is able to communicate with her sister Karen, played by Fay Ripley.)

Of course there's something nefarious going on, and at least a little like "Into Thin Air", the efforts of a sole believing policeman begin to unravel the mystery. There are a couple of red herrings and a frankly ridiculous finale that at least offers a kind of fun cameo for none other than Sir Alec Guinness, who reportedly didn't even pick up a paycheck for his momentary appearance, by his own design. Even more fascinatingly, this little snippet was evidently shot in Hamburg a decade before this film and then interpolated here. While it may not be exactly how this transpired, this humorously reminded me of those old MGM musicals where someone might say something like, "Hey, we have a barn - let's put on a show!", only here I thought it might be director Anthony Waller telling some potential investor, "Hey, I have three minutes of footage of Alec Guinness, let's make a movie!"

*In poking around various nooks and crannies of the internet, I found this interesting piece about the legend and some of its background and adaptations.

Mute Witness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mute Witness is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides only the following fairly generic verbiage about the restoration:

Mute Witness is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with stereo sound. The restored 4K master was approved by director Anthony Waller and provided by Jinga Films.

Both this 1080 release and Arrow's simultaneous 4K UHD release of Mute Witness offer some of the same pretty wide variances in any number of aspects we typically focus on in reviews, including densities, color temperatures, clarity and grain structure, to the point that I'd frankly have loved to have more information on exactly what element and/or elements may have been used for these transfers. To cut to the chase, while both versions show some of the same differences in all of those aspects, they may be less pronounced in this 1080 version, which may then make it a more relatively homogenous and pleasing viewing experience. There's a rather long optically printed credits sequence at the head of this film, which understandably offers a kind of "dupey" look and really thick, splotchy and yellow grain, but even once that sequence has ended, the grain field doesn't really tend to dramatically tighten or minimize. Perhaps even more curious are the widely variant densities and color timing, which can range from rather nicely suffused and vibrant to wan, and also from almost desaturated coolness to at least some passingly inviting warmth that can emphasize orange-ish tones. These are very much in evidence throughout this 1080 presentation, but are arguably even more noticeable in Arrow's 4K UHD presentation, for better or worse. Some wobble attends the opening printed credits and there are occasional signs of damage that have made it through the restoration gauntlet.

Mute Witness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mute Witness features a hyperbolic LPCM 2.0 track that offers some really wide dynamic range, courtesy of some fun sound design choices that can range from Billy's "silent type" moments to bursts of screams or other activity for those characters who can emit sounds. There's just the very slightest hint of crackling breakup at peak amplitudes, but it's not a major problem. There's some fairly wide imaging here at times with some layered sound effects. Wilbert Hirsch's over the top score is well presented. Dialogue is rendered cleanly, though it looks like at least some of the actors were probably post looped, and so sync as they say can be loose. Optional English subtitles are available.

Mute Witness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Writer / Director Anthony Waller


• Crew Audio Commentary features production designer Matthias Kammermeier and composer Wilbert Hirsch, moderated by Lee Gambin


• The Silent Death (HD; 11:33) is another excellent visual essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who discusses some of the film's presentational tropes like an emphasis on mouths.


• The Wizard Behind the Curtains (HD; 23:23) is another really interesting visual essay, this one by Chris Alexander, who looks at films within films. There's an almost comical after a while laundry list of films Alexander references.


• Snuff Movie Presentation (HD; 25:08) is an early EPK for the film (when it was still being marketed as Snuff Movie) made to generate interest from investors and distributors.


• Location Scouting Footage (HD; 7:30) actually stems from Boston, before the decision to film in Moscow was made.


• Alec Guinness Footage (HD; 2:41) offers the full Hamburg footage.


• Teaser (HD; 1:09)


• Trailer (HD; 1:47)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally this limited edition features a keepcase with a reversible sleeve which encloses a folded double sided poster and a nicely appointed insert booklet with new writing by Michelle Kisner. Packaging features a slipcover.

Mute Witness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mute Witness has some needlessly goofy moments, but it also has some rather effective examples of "high anxiety" as well (to allude to another film with a supposed Hitchcock connection). While video has fairly wide variances, technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements, including two well done commentaries, are excellent. Recommended.