Witness to Murder

Witness to Murder Information

Witness to Murder is a 1954 suspense film starring Barbara Stanwyck. While the film received moderately positive reviews, it ended up as an also-ran to Alfred Hitchcock's somewhat similar Rear Window, which opened less than a month later. The latter picture was a box-office hit.

Plot

Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck), while looking out her bedroom window, witnesses a young woman being strangled to death. The woman reports the killing to the police, but no one believes her. In fact, the body can't even be found. The killer, Albert Richter (George Sanders), an ex-Nazi, sets Draper up to make her seem insane and she's locked up in a mental institution. With the aid of a sympathetic yet skeptical Police Lt. Lawrence Mathews (Gary Merrill), Draper is released and confronts the killer.

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck as Cheryl Draper
George Sanders as Albert Richter
Gary Merrill as Police Lt. Lawrence Mathews
Jesse White as Police Sgt. Eddie Vincent
Harry Shannon as Police Capt. Donnelly
Claire Carleton as The Blonde
Lewis Martin as Psychiatrist
Dick Elliott as Apartment Manager
Harry Tyler as Charlie
Juanita Moore as Negress
Joy Hallward as Fellow Worker
Adeline De Walt Reynolds as The Old Lady
Claude Akins as Police Officer
Sam Edwards as Tommy - Counterman

Reception

Critical response

Film critic Dennis Schwartz appreciated the work of cinematographer John Alton but gave the film a mixed review, writing, "The camerawork of John Alton is the star of this vehicle. His camerawork sets a dark mood of the Los Angeles scenario, escalating the dramatics with shadowy building shots. The twist in the story is that as upstanding a citizen as Stanwyck is, the authorities still side with the Nazi Sanders because he has a higher status. The noir theme of alienation is richly furnished. But the rub is in the story's credibility -- Stanwyck was just too strong a character to be so completely victimized."

This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Witness_to_Murder" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.

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