Witness for the Prosecution (Hallmark Hall of Fame)

1982 television film by Alan Gibson 1st episode of the 32nd season of Hallmark Hall of Fame

"Witness for the Prosecution"

Hallmark Hall of Fame episode

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Episode no.

Season 32
Episode 1

Directed by

Alan Gibson

Written by

Agatha Christie (play)
Billy Wilder
(1957 screenplay)
Harry Kurnitz
(1957 screenplay)
Larry Marcus (adaptation)
John Gay
(written for television by)

Based on

The Witness for the Prosecution
1926 story / 1953 play
by Agatha Christie and Witness for the Prosecution
1957 film

Featured music

John Cameron
(theme music)

Cinematography by

Arthur Ibbetson

Editing by

Peter Boyle

Production code

142

Original air date

December 4, 1982 (1982-12-04)

Running time

101 minutes

Guest appearances

Episode chronology

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"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

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List of episodes

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1982 American made-for-television drama film version of Agatha Christie's 1925 short story and 1953 play, and also a remake of the Billy Wilder film Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Plot summary

Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister, has just been released from the hospital in which he stayed for two months following a heart attack. Returning to his practise of law, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering the elderly Emily French, who had bequeathed her estate to him. Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, but his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, becomes the witness for the prosecution and defiantly testifies that her husband is guilty of the murder. Sir Wilfred represents Vole but retains his suspicions regarding the accused man's icy wife.

Cast

Ralph Richardson as Sir Wilfred Robarts QC
Deborah Kerr as Miss Plimsoll, Sir Wilfred's nurse
Diana Rigg as Christine Heilger/Vole
Beau Bridges as Leonard Vole
Donald Pleasence as Myers QC, the prosecutor
Wendy Hiller as Janet Mackenzie, Emily French's maid
David Langton as Mayhew, Vole's solicitor
Richard Vernon as Brogan-Moore, Sir Wilfred's colleague
Peter Sallis as the butler, Carter
Michael Gough as the Judge
Frank Mills as Chief Inspector Hearne
Primi Townsend as Diana
Patricia Leslie as Emily French (seen in flashbacks)

Production

The film was directed by Alan Gibson, based on a teleplay by John Gay and the adaptation of Larry Marcus. The musical score was composed by John Cameron.

The cast includes many veteran and well-known actors such as Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Diana Rigg, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller, Peter Sallis and Beau Bridges. Unlike the original Billy Wilder film, the TV version stays more faithful to the Christie's original short story, including the scene where Sir Wilfred meets the scarred Cockney woman in an apartment in a sleazy district of London (instead of at the railway station as in the Wilder version).

This version, also, instead of opening with Sir Wilfrid (renamed "Sir Wilfred") returning home, features an opening prologue where Janet Mackenzie returns to her employer's house, where she sees Mrs. French laughing and drinking with someone, goes upstairs and takes a pattern from her room, and hears noise from downstairs, and discovers in shock the body of Mrs. French.

This was Ralph Richardson's last appearance in films made for television, while it also was Kerr's U.S. television debut. Alan Gibson, the director of this film, also directed The Satanic Rites of Dracula, in which Richard Vernon, who plays the part of Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution, had a small role.

John Gay, the writer of the teleplay, also wrote teleplays for the Lux Video Theatre, a television anthology series. Lux Video Theatre also produced an adaptation of Witness for the Prosecution, in 1953 (four years before the Wilder version).

Reception

Critical

The New York Times called it "a great deal of fun", praising the "remarkable durability" of Christie's original material, and the performances of Richardson and Rigg.

Awards

Arthur Ibbetson was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding cinematography for his work on the production.

References

^ John J O'Connor (1982-12-03). "Lively Witness for the Prosecution". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
Tom Shales (1982-12-04). "CBS' Ravaged Witness". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^ "Witness for the Prosecution (1982)". BFI. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016.
IMDb.com, retrieved 29 March 2021
Arthur Unger (1982-12-03). "Deborah Kerr talks about her role in an Agatha Christie whodunit". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
"The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)". BFI. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017.
"CTVA US Anthology - "Lux Video Theatre" (CBS) Season 4 (1953-54)". ctva.biz. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
"Arthur F. Ibbetson". Television Academy.

External links

v t e Films directed by Alan Gibson
Crescendo (1970) Goodbye Gemini (1970) Journey to Midnight (1971) Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) Checkered Flag or Crash (1977) Churchill and the Generals (1981) A Woman Called Golda (1982) Witness for the Prosecution (1982) Martin's Day (1985)

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