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==Plot==
Senior [[barrister]] Sir Wilfrid Robarts, who is recovering from a [[heart attack]], agrees to defend Leonard Vole despiteover the objections of Robarts' private nurse Miss Plimsoll, as Sir Wilfrid's doctor has warned him against taking anyon criminal cases. Vole is accused of murdering Emily French, a wealthy, childless widow who had becomefallen enamoredin oflove with him and had named him as the main beneficiary in her will. Strong [[circumstantial evidence]] points to Vole as the killer, but Sir Wilfrid believes Vole to be innocent.
When Sir Wilfrid speaks with Vole's German wife Christine, he finds her rather cold and self-possessed, but she does provide an alibi, although it is not entirely convincing. HeDuring isthe greatlytrial surprisedin when,the during[[Old Bailey]], the trialCrown introduces testimony that Mrs. French had seen Vole with a younger woman and planned to confront him, shebut Sir Wilfrid believes his client to be innocent. To his shock, Christine is also summoned as a witness byprosecution the prosecuting barristerwitness.
While a wife cannot be [[Spousal privilege|compelled to testify against her husband]], Christine was still married to Otto Helm, a German man now living in East Germany in the [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Russian Zone]], when she wed Vole (who was inserving with the [[Royal Air Force]] and part ofin the [[World WarBritish II|occupation forceszone in Germany|British occupation zone]] and had married her to help her escape Germanyto the West). SheChristine testifies that VoleLeonard privatelyreturned confessedhome toright herafter thatthe hemurder hadand killedexplained that Mrs. French confronted him and he killed her to avoid being disinherited in her will. Christine states that she never loved Leonard, and her conscience has forced her tonot finally tell theto truthlie.
DuringNow theterrified trialfor inhis theclient's [[Old Bailey]]life, Sir Wilfrid is contacted by a mysteriousCockney woman who, foroffers ato fee, providessell him with letters written by Christine to a mysteriousmale lover named Max. The handwriting is genuine, and the woman has a legitimate reason for providing the letters: her face haswas beendisfigured scarredby andMax. During cross slashedexamination, supposedlySir byWilfred Max.reads Thethe letters, which include an account of Max and Christine's planplanning to kill[[frameup|frame]] Leonard, whichwho convincesis theacquitted juryof that Christine had deliberately perjured herself. Leonard is acquittedmurder, much to the crowd's delight.
However, Sir Wilfrid isfeels troubled by the verdict. Heand is proved correct when Christine, brought into the courtroom for safety after being assailed by the departing crowd for her conduct, tells him that he had her help winningin the case. Sir Wilfrid had told Christine before the trial that anyan alibi contributed by a loving wife would not be believed by thea jury, so she playedposed as a hateful, double-crossing wife. andShe profferedalso testimony implicating her husband and then forged thewrote letters to thea non-existent Maxlover and assumedplayed athe disguisedisfigured toCockney playwoman thewho mysteriousgave womanSir who contributedWilfred the same letters, discreditingin order to discredit her own testimony and leading to the acquittal. SheChristine admits that she savedloves Leonard and saved him, althoughbut she knew all along that he was guilty,. becauseChristine shehas lovesactually him.told Shethe accepts''truth'' thatupon shethe maywitness bestand; triedLeonard fordid, in fact, confess to Mrs. French's perjurymurder.
Leonard, who has overheard Christine's admission, cheerfullygleefully confirmsboasts that he ''indeed'' manipulated and killedmurdered Mrs. French. Sir Wilfrid, who genuinely believed in his client's innocence, is infuriated; but helplessthe tolaw stopis now Leonardpowerless because of British [[double jeopardy]] laws ([[Double jeopardy#Post-2003|since overturned]] in the United Kingdom) that would prevent a retrial. Christine is shocked to discover that Leonard has been having an affair with a younger woman for whom he plans to abandon Christine, feeling he and Christine are now even because they have saved each other's lives.
Christine learns, however, that Leonard has indeed been having an affair with the much younger woman seen by Mrs. French, for whom he also plans to abandon ''her''. Leonard smugly announces, though she will now be tried for [[perjury]], he and Christine are now even, as they both saved each other's lives. A devastated Christine grabs a knife and kills Leonard and as she is arrested, Sir Wilfrid decides to further delay his retirement to serve as Christine Vole's defense attorney.
Christine angrily grabs a knife and kills Leonard. After she is arrested by the police, Sir Wilfrid, urged on by Miss Plimsoll, declares that he will take on Christine's defense.
==Cast==
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==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last=Aldridge |first=Mark |chapter=Chapter 5: Christie Films Make an Impact: Spoilers: And Then There Were None; 'Philomel Cottage'; Love from a Stranger; Witness for the Prosecution |title=Agatha Christie on Screen |year=2016 |pages=79–94 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-3496-7695-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Durgnat |first1=Raymond |author1-link=Raymond Durgnat |last2=Simmon |first2=Scott |year=1988 |title=King Vidor, American |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-5200-5798-2}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hantke |first=Steffen |title=Wïlder's Dietrich: 'Witness for the Prosecution' in the Context of the Cold War |journal=German Studies Review |year=2011 |pages=247–260 |jstor=41303729 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41303729}}
*{{cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Charles |year=2004 |title=A Foreign Affair, 1948 |publisher=UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22-August 21}}
*{{cite book|publisher=Gale Learning |title=A Study Guide for Agatha Christie's 'Witness for the Prosecution' |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4103-9274-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xwBdDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Witness+for+the+Prosecution%22+film&pg=PT3}}
*{{cite book |last=Zigelstein |first=Jesse |year=2004 |title=Witness for the Prosecution, 1957 |publisher=UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22-August 21}}
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[[Category:Films with screenplays by Billy Wilder]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:1957 drama films]]▼
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
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[[Category:Films about marriage]]
[[Category:Fiction about mariticide]]
▲[[Category:1957Murder dramamystery films]]
[[Category:English-language black comedy films]]
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