Witness for the Prosecution

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1957 crime drama directed by Billy Wilder and starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich. The film was based on a stage play by Agatha Christie. While primarily a courtroom drama, it also has elements of film noir.

Plot

The film opens in a London taxi cab, which is carrying elderly barrister Wilfred Owen (Laughton) home from the hospital after an extended convalescence. With Sir Wilfred is his nurse of thirty years, Mrs. Plimsoll, herself a widow, who saw him through his long recuperation.

Upon arriving home, Sir Wilfred is met at the door by his old friend Inspector Fox of New Scotland Yard. Fox informs him that their mutual acquaintance Mrs. French, a rich and elderly widow of the Indian campaign, has passed away, and the authorities suspect foul play. Specifically, although nothing was taken from the French apartment, the glass around the latch of one outside window had been shattered, as if a burglar had come in, been interrupted in his crime, and killed Mrs. French in self-defense. Owen commiserates, but thinks nothing more of it that night.