"Witness for the Prosecution" | |
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Hallmark Hall of Fame episode | |
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 |
Running time | 101 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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). [1] [2]
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.
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. [3]
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. [3] 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. [5] 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. [6]
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). [7]
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. [1]
Arthur Ibbetson was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding cinematography for his work on the production. [8]
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE, known professionally as Deborah Kerr, was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be nominated for any acting Oscar. Kerr was known for her roles as elegant, ladylike but also sexually repressed women that deeply yearn for sexual freedom.
Witness for the Prosecution is a 1957 American legal mystery thriller film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, and Elsa Lanchester. The film, which has elements of bleak black comedy and film noir, is a courtroom drama set in the Old Bailey in London and is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Agatha Christie. The first film adaptation of Christie's story, Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the screen by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz, and Wilder. The film was acclaimed by critics and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It also received five Golden Globes nominations including a win for Elsa Lanchester as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Additionally, the film was selected as the sixth-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute for their AFI's 10 Top 10 list.
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He worked in films throughout most of his career, and played more than sixty cinema roles. From an artistic but not theatrical background, Richardson had no thought of a stage career until a production of Hamlet in Brighton inspired him to become an actor. He learned his craft in the 1920s with a touring company and later the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In 1931 he joined the Old Vic, playing mostly Shakespearean roles. He led the company the following season, succeeding Gielgud, who had taught him much about stage technique. After he left the company, a series of leading roles took him to stardom in the West End and on Broadway.
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–2017); and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later.
Hugh Ernest Leo Williams, known professionally as John Williams, was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, as the chauffeur in Billy Wilder's Sabrina, as Mr. Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and as the second "Mr. French" on TV's Family Affair in its first season (1967).
Rachael Atlanta Stirling is an English stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet, and Millie in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle. She has also guest starred in Lewis and one episode of Doctor Who, co-starring with her mother Diana Rigg.
Ian William Richardson was a British actor from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was best known for his portrayal of machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards (1990–1995) television trilogy, as well as the pivotal spy Bill Haydon in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). Other notable screen work included a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in two films, as well as significant roles in Brazil, M. Butterfly, and Dark City.
Sad Cypress is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March 1940 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and threepence (8/3) – the first price rise for a UK Christie edition since her 1921 debut – and the US edition retailed at $2.00.
The Hound of Death and Other Stories is a collection of twelve short stories by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom in October 1933. Unusually, the collection was not published by Christie's regular publishers, William Collins & Sons, but by Odhams Press, and was not available to purchase in shops.
Patrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.
Evil Under the Sun is a 1982 British mystery film based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie and directed by Guy Hamilton. Peter Ustinov stars as Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective whom he had previously played in Death on the Nile (1978).
Brian Horace Clemens was an English screenwriter and television producer. He worked on the British TV series The Avengers and created The New Avengers and The Professionals.
Jack Watson was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards.
"The Witness for the Prosecution" is a short story and play by British author Agatha Christie. The story was initially published as "Traitor's Hands" in Flynn's, a weekly pulp magazine, in the edition of 31 January 1925.
Witness for the Prosecution is a play adapted by Agatha Christie from her 1925 short story "Traitor's Hands". The play opened in London on 28 October 1953 at the Winter Garden Theatre. It was produced by Sir Peter Saunders.
Witness for the Prosecution may refer to:
The 14th ceremony of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring the best in film and television acting achievement for the year 2007, took place on January 27, 2008 and, for the 12th consecutive time was held at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California. It was broadcast live simultaneously by TNT and TBS.
Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie:
Play of the Week is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced for the ITV network by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television.
The Witness for the Prosecution is a 2016 British mystery drama thriller television serial broadcast on BBC One over Christmas 2016. The two-part programme was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Julian Jarrold and is based on Agatha Christie's short story of the same name. The expanded plot is based on Christie's original short story with the original ending, which is different than that of previous stage, film and television versions, including Billy Wilder's 1957 film version.