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User Reviews for: Witness for the Prosecution

Jordyep
7/10  2 months ago
Like a lot of Agatha Christie's work, it starts to collapse once we get to the conclusion. However, the first 90 minutes of this are really strong. Loved the main character and all of the quirks given to him by the script and direction (blinding monocle; his love of cigars; the health pills which I was honestly expecting to become a major plot point at some point). The plot is engaging right from the start because of the compelling mystery and excellent direction. Wilder controls the amount of exposition by constantly cutting back to flashbacks, there's constantly this sense of breadcrumbs being dropped but it's unclear how the pieces fit together. It has a good sense of humour that continues during the scenes taking place in the courtroom (loved the deaf housekeeper) and don't undercut the tension. However, from the scene where it introduces this new plot device of a bunch of letters it pretty much lost me. Not only is it poorly acted, but the device is so highly convenient that it left me really confused, especially because the movie preceding it is so tightly written. During the final ten minutes we receive an explanation for this scene, but it creates this whole new set of problems. In fact, there's a bunch of new reveals and twists during this ending that are so ludicrous and/or cheesy that it taints a lot of what's come before. Therefore, I wouldn't rank this among Wilder's best, but it's still a fun watch overall.

7/10
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