8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Sir Wilfrid Robarts is an ailing barrister who has been told that he should accept fewer legal cases for the sake of his health. However, he cannot resist defending Leonard Stephen Vole, a man accused of murder whose only alibi is provided by his devoted wife, Christine. The police are convinced of Vole's guilt as he stands to benefit financially from the murder, but Robarts believes that he can prove the man's innocence in court.
Starring: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, John Williams (II)Film-Noir | 100% |
Drama | 27% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: It's difficult to discuss some aspects of the plot of this film without at least hinting at potential spoilers,
and in one paragraph below I actually do more than merely hint. If
you haven't seen Witness for the Prosecution, you may want to skip down to the technical aspects of the
review, below.
There’s a manifest difference between seeing a theatrical presentation and a film, and aside from the more obvious
differences between these media, there’s one that is subliminal but perhaps one of the most important: films have
close-
ups, and that gets the audience—no matter where they’re seated—up close and personal with the subject on the
screen.
That has some built in dangers for properties that rely on disguises or make-up effects. One of the more salient
examples
of this is Anthony Shaffer’s fantastic piece Sleuth
(hopefully the original version will be out on Blu-ray soon), where not every character is exactly who you might
initially think they are. On stage, this artifice works more or less perfectly, at least if it’s performed well and staged so
that
a certain deceit isn’t too evident. In the film, it’s all but impossible not to give away the “twist”, and it deprives the film
of
one of the more spectacular surprises in the annals of mysteries. Much the same problem attends the 1957 film of
Agatha
Christie’s vaunted Witness for the Prosecution, a surprisingly straightforward murder mystery from the pen of
the
undisputed Dame of British suspense writers. Despite press and public acclaim at the time of the film’s release,
accolades
which shied away from divulging the film’s big “twist”, it’s not an especially hard one to figure out as the film trundles
through to its climax. Without posting any potential spoilers here (no such guarantee for some of the content later in this review), suffice it
to say that the film hinges on much the
same
artifice that was used later in Sleuth, and much like the film version of that play, the artifice simply doesn’t hold
up
under the cold, clear light of film close-ups.
Witness for the Prosecution is presented on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Kino is just the latest label to start licensing deep catalog material from the (former) major studios (perhaps spurred on by Frank Tarzi, who returned to Kino after a stint at Olive Films), and fans have been understandably anxious to know about the quality of these new Blu-rays. I'm frankly just a little conflicted about the proper score for this release, for it's easy to argue a 4.0 if one discounts a few anomalies. I've opted for the lower score in order to indicate that there are a few niggling concerns here in an overall very nice and filmic presentation. While a lot of the film offers superb clarity and contrast, as well as generally convincing black levels and nicely modulated gray scale, there are a number of odd "dupey" looking moments that suddenly creep into several scenes (you'll notice the first one at around the 10 minute mark, when Vole is starting to tell Robarts about his history). These typically just pop up for a few seconds, and then the film reverts to its better looking state. (Look at screencaps 10 and 11 for just a slight indication of some of the lesser quality moments). I never saw Witness for the Prosecution theatrically, so cannot definitively state whether these are inherent, but the bottom line is, they're noticeable and a slight blemish that along with some very minor and transitory compression artifacts afflict an otherwise very nice looking transfer. The image here is nicely stable, with no problems in resolution of fine patterns like Vole's tweed suit jacket. There are also no obvious intrusions of digital revisionism in the image.
Witness for the Prosecution's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix offers nice support for the film's playful dialogue, along with the occasional sound effect and generally minimalist score (Dietrich does get to sing one song interpolated into the film that is obviously tailor made for her distinctive talents). There's some nice attention to ambient reverb in the large spaces of The Old Bailey, but this is generally an unambitious sound mix that doesn't offer any truly showy moments. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range has some punch due to a couple of outbursts along the way.
Some viewers may in fact be fooled by the film's central artifice, but my hunch is wiseacre young 'un's who have been brought up on a steady diet of more impressive special effects wizardry are going to be rolling their eyes and asking the not exactly rhetorical question, "Did this really work back in 1957?" Putting aside that perhaps understandable issue, the rest of Witness for the Prosecution works like gangbusters. Laughton and Lanchester are just flat out lovable as a pair of antagonists thrown together by chance, and Power is surprisingly effective as a gigolo. The video here is generally very strong, but a few recurrent issues have led me to score it on what is perhaps the conservative side. Audio is fine, and the main supplement, while brief, is hugely enjoyable. Highly recommended.
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Warner Archive Collection
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Warner Archive Collection
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Limited Edition of 2000
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Fox Studio Classics
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Warner Archive Collection
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