Witness to Murder (1954)

Excellent, a Must See

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Witness to Murder is like witnessing the acting talents of great movie stars, not quite having neared their expiration date in a Hollywood that throws away anything that might be the slightest bit rancid. But this film, with its carefully stewed leftovers, comes to a slow boil and gives off a robust cinematic aroma.The first ingredient is the wonderful use of Los Angeles exteriors, especially the apartment buildings and high rise development. Next, we have the interactions between Miss Stanwyck and her two male costars (especially the delicious George Sanders). But what really makes it cook is the fact that you get what you pretty much expect from these performers: Stanwyck is tough yet chewy; Sanders is seasoned with sage; and Gary Merrill provides a durable texture. I guarantee you: there is no bad film noir after-taste.

The story = a nosy suspicious single female neighbor catches a murderer through persistence is old and tired even Woody Allen did a version. So, I offend no one the nosy neighbors are not always female.In this rendition Stanwyk sees a murder out her window. The police investigate and find nothing. The murderer (Sanders) then tries to paint her as crazy--to reduce her credibility to zero. A police detective (Merrill) develops an attachment to Stanwyck and helps out--and of course in the denouement saves Stanwyck.It starts out too abruptly (Stanwyck sees the murder in the first 30 seconds) and becomes so predictable it is hard to believe this was an A film. It has B production values except for maybe some wind effects in the very beginning. The B&W cinematography is good sinister shadows etc... but the story so boringly bad they do nothing and are wasted. You get mad and hope Stanwyck crashes her car or fall off a tall building--all clichéd sequences like a woman strapped to rails in front of a rapidly approaching locomotive.I predicted they would find the book an hour before it happened. There are lots of in your face red herrings--elevators that might stop etc...but no exciting plot twists or turns---a dud.The only good part is when the murderer admits everything to Stanwyck (I wasn't expecting that).Now if Stanwyck had killed herself and the police closed the case that would have made it at least a film noire.Netflix streaming has all the dregs of every genre.DO NOT RECOMMEND

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.

The story begins on a windy night in Los Angeles. Cheryl Draper gets up from bed to close her bedroom window, and lo and behold, she looks across the street at an apartment facing hers, only to see a man strangling a woman. She calls to notify what she had witnessed, little does she know she is dealing with a cunning man, Albert Richter, who will make her life miserable.This 1954 film was clearly a vehicle for an aging Barbara Stanwyck, even though the woman in the story must have been in her twenties. There are things that don't make much sense and holes in the plot, but director Roy Rowland and his writer, Charles Erskine, did what they could with a plot that goes nowhere and things are not properly explained. Nunnally Johnson cooperated with the screen treatment, but he gets no credit for it. We decided not to fight it and went along with this implausible story that shows why Barbara Stanwyck was one of the best in the business.The suave George Sanders plays the evil man that is trying to frame Cheryl by any means. Mr. Sanders was not at his best though, even as the man who's always a step ahead of our heroine. Gary Merrill is not totally convincing as the police detective Larry Matthews attracted to Cheryl. Jesse White plays his partner.The camera work of John Alton and the editing of Robert Swink make the film even better than it should have been under another team. Best sequence is the chase through the building under construction.