Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

bsmith5552 The title, "Witness to Murder" tells you what this movie is all about in three words. Made near the end of the classic film noir period, it is a riveting drama. It had unfortunately disappeared in recent years largely because of its plot similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window".Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) witness Albert Richter (George Sanders) strangling an unknown female. She immediately calls the cops. Lt. Lawernce Mathews (Gary Merrill) and Sgt. Eddie Vincent (Jesse White),respond. The police at first dismiss Cheryl's story chalking it up to a bad dream. Mathews becomes attracted to Cheryl and the two begin seeing each other. Although sympathetic, Mathews continues to insist on some sort of evidence to substantiate Cheryl's story.Richter, meanwhile learns that Cheryl had witnessed the murder and concocts a plan to discredit her story and create the impression that she is going mad. Police Captain Donnelly (Harry Shannon) is convinced and has Cheryl placed in an "observation" ward at the local hospital. Following her release and despite Mathews' attempts to try and prove her story, Richter confronts Cheryl in her apartment and.....................................Barbara Stanwyck gives a stand out performance as the nervous Cheryl. Her scenes in the hospital are especially riveting as she tries to convince the medical staff of her sanity. Claire Carleton, Juanita Moore and the then 90 plus year old Adeline DeWalt Reynolds impress as the other patients in the room. Was there ever a better actor to play the suave sophisticated stuffed shirt villain than George Sanders? His cunning manipulative Richter is one of his best performances. Jesse White (the Maytag repairman) has little to do except smoke his trademark cigar.The atmosphere of the story is pure noir, complete with darkened rooms, rain soaked streets et al. The only criticism I have is the scene where Sanders confesses to Stanwyck and reveals his plans for the future. A little melodramatic and unnecessary in my opinion.After all is said and done "Witness to Murder" turns out to be a classic film noir.

evanston_dad A fairly routine woman-in-peril movie is elevated a bit above others of its kind by the actors in it: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders and Gary Merrill.Stanwyck plays an interior designer who witnesses her neighbor from across the way (Sanders) strangling a woman. She then tries to get the police involved, who dismiss her story due to lack of evidence and the fact that Sanders is a respected gentleman and author. But Sanders wants to make sure they continue to dismiss her, and proceeds to convince Stanwyck that she's crazy and that her story is the result of her hysterical imaginings. Gary Merrill is the detective who believes her, mostly because he falls for her.It's a little bit of "Rear Window" crossed with a little bit of "Gaslight." Sanders is terrific as the unctuous villain (who happens to be a Nazi in hiding, no less), and there's some nice creepy atmosphere generated by the cinematography and score. The movie will never be anywhere near a classic, but it has its merits and is worth 90 minutes or so of your time.Grade: B

seymourblack-1 "Witness To Murder" is a modest but entertaining thriller with some sensational cinematography and a couple of conspicuously good performances that more than compensate for its rather unremarkable plot. The story doesn't score high on originality or contain many twists but it is, nevertheless, very engaging because it's hard to resist the need to know how the plight of its main protagonist plays out. Some passages are also suspenseful and the climax is tense and exciting.One night, Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) witnesses the murder of a young woman in an apartment on the opposite side of the street to her own. She clearly sees the killer strangling his victim to death and then promptly telephones the police to report what she's seen. When Lieutenant Larry Mathews (Gary Merrill) visits the alleged murder scene, there is no dead body or any evidence of a crime having been committed and so he assumes that Cheryl must have imagined or dreamt the incident.On the following day, Cheryl sees Albert Richter (George Sanders) pushing a large trunk into a station wagon and recognises him as the strangler. Through her own investigations, she discovers that there's a vacant apartment adjacent to Richter's in which he could have hidden the body when the police called and some marks on the floor seem to support this theory, as they indicate that something heavy had recently been dragged from one side of the room to the other.Despite the fact that nobody is convinced by what she says, Cheryl keeps repeating her accusations and whenever she offers some further evidence of Richter's guilt, he cleverly provides a plausible explanation. The longer this goes on, the more convinced the police become that she's irrational and Richter exploits this situation by giving the police some letters (which he claims she wrote) that show that she's mentally ill and clearly intent on persecuting him. The police believe that the letters were written by Cheryl and soon after, have her committed to a mental hospital for observation. The ways in which she navigates her way through this experience and eventually devises a plan to convince the police of Richter's guilt are both intriguing and entertaining to watch.George Sanders is tremendous as the villain of the piece and convincingly slimy as a seemingly sophisticated author who's actually a political fanatic and a callous murderer whose only motive is pure greed. Barbara Stanwyck is also excellent as the remarkably determined Cheryl who continues to persevere despite all the difficulties that she confronts. The way in which Stanwyck portrays Cheryl's mixture of fear and toughness is very well balanced and subtle and adds considerable interest to each new plot development.An unexpected feature of this movie is John Alton's amazing cinematography which does so much to enhance the mood of the piece. The expert way in which light and shadow are used and camera angles are exploited to emphasise certain moments are truly outstanding as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

Forn55 They don't make 'em like this any more, and perhaps that's not a bad thing.An entertaining, film noir potboiler, "Witness to Murder" is the kind of movie you might want to watch if you're in the mood to eat popcorn and yell at the screen. Hand-cuffed to a pedestrian screenplay, the movie nonetheless gives Stanwyck more than ample opportunity to ring the emotional changes and co-star Sanders to suavely menace her in the guise of nemesis. Even Merrill, known less for his acting abilities than for his square-jawed, photogenic charm, gives a reasonably creditable performance. But any moviegoer looking for ingenious plot-twists should search elsewhere; there's not a bend in this movie's narrative road that one can't see around. The real stars that shine here are the camera-work and the appropriately moody lighting.So pop your corn, turn the lights down low, and spend a pleasant 83 minutes. You won't be sorry you watched this movie, but in a couple days I'm betting you won't even remember the names of the characters in it.