It sounds good. An American officer, Keenan Wynn, shoots a British sergeant in India during the war and is put on trial for his life. Everyone seems anxious to hang Wynn, get over this international incident that is somehow impeding the war effort.
Robert Mitchum is assigned the task of defending Wynn. His superiors urge him to fail, and there may be a promotion in it if Wynn hangs. The problem is that Wynn, though pronounced sane by an inefficient doctor, seems to be nuts. When he's not sitting mute, with his lips clenched, staring unblinkingly ahead, he erupts like a pustule and begins running around spewing racial epithets and accusing others of stealing from him.
It puts Mitchum in a quandary. He can go with the flow, follow the hypothetical imperative, and put up a lazy defense so that Wynn hangs and he, Mitchum, become a full bird colonel. Or he can follow a moral imperative and try to see that justice is done, in which case he himself can look forward to a career in the Army that is a dead end.
Yes, it sounds good. Directed by Guy ("Bond, James Bond") Hamilton, shot more or less on location, with Mitchum, Wynn, Trevor Howard, and other respected actors.
Lamentably, it looks like not much more than a variation on "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial." France Nguyen is thrown in gratuitously in order to prove that Mitchum is heterosexual, I guess. She has little enough other reason to be in the film. Mitchum is his bulky, somewhat swaybacked, usual self but doesn't do anything very exciting or insightful. The script doesn't give him much of a chance. Sam Wanamaker and Trevor Howard are doctors, Wanamaker lending some excitement to the story, but their parts are small. Trevor Howard slurs his lines and seems barely able to get the words out.
The director allows everyone to speak too loudly. Outsized, perfunctory dialog is okay in a courtroom puzzle like "Witness for the Prosecution" but not for one that deals with more subtle issues. The ending is the same as in "The Caine Mutiny," "Buffalo Soldiers," and a million Perry Mason episodes. The whole trial and its preparation turn into wasted time when one of the witnesses, or the defendant himself, breaks down on the stand and begins screaming, jabbering insanely, or sobbing out his guilt.
Disappointing.
Robert Mitchum is assigned the task of defending Wynn. His superiors urge him to fail, and there may be a promotion in it if Wynn hangs. The problem is that Wynn, though pronounced sane by an inefficient doctor, seems to be nuts. When he's not sitting mute, with his lips clenched, staring unblinkingly ahead, he erupts like a pustule and begins running around spewing racial epithets and accusing others of stealing from him.
It puts Mitchum in a quandary. He can go with the flow, follow the hypothetical imperative, and put up a lazy defense so that Wynn hangs and he, Mitchum, become a full bird colonel. Or he can follow a moral imperative and try to see that justice is done, in which case he himself can look forward to a career in the Army that is a dead end.
Yes, it sounds good. Directed by Guy ("Bond, James Bond") Hamilton, shot more or less on location, with Mitchum, Wynn, Trevor Howard, and other respected actors.
Lamentably, it looks like not much more than a variation on "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial." France Nguyen is thrown in gratuitously in order to prove that Mitchum is heterosexual, I guess. She has little enough other reason to be in the film. Mitchum is his bulky, somewhat swaybacked, usual self but doesn't do anything very exciting or insightful. The script doesn't give him much of a chance. Sam Wanamaker and Trevor Howard are doctors, Wanamaker lending some excitement to the story, but their parts are small. Trevor Howard slurs his lines and seems barely able to get the words out.
The director allows everyone to speak too loudly. Outsized, perfunctory dialog is okay in a courtroom puzzle like "Witness for the Prosecution" but not for one that deals with more subtle issues. The ending is the same as in "The Caine Mutiny," "Buffalo Soldiers," and a million Perry Mason episodes. The whole trial and its preparation turn into wasted time when one of the witnesses, or the defendant himself, breaks down on the stand and begins screaming, jabbering insanely, or sobbing out his guilt.
Disappointing.