Witness to Murder *** (1954, Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill) – Classic Movie Review 5344

Director Roy Rowland’s tense and tingling 1954 thriller provides an excellent Rear Window-style part for Barbara Stanwyck as Cheryl Draper, the solitary dame whose life is in danger from suave killer Albert Richter (George Sanders), when she sees a murder across the road. But cop Police Lieutenant Lawrence Mathews (Gary Merrill) at first just thinks that she is wasting police time and is possibly round the bend.

There is plenty of strong suspense all the way through, while Stanwyck is full of beans as the over-intense interior decorator, with Sanders not far behind as the Nazi nasty. If producer Chester Erskine and Nunnally Johnson‘s original screenplay is schematic and artificial, that turns out to be part of the film’s charm and allure.

Cinematographer John Alton makes it look nice and noir in black and white, unlike the glossy Rear Window, which is equally schematic and artificial, and successful with it of course. Both films are saying, it’s only a movie!

Also in the cast are Jesse White, Harry Shannon, Claire Carleton, Lewis Martin, Dick Elliott, Harry Tyler, Juanita Moore, Joy Hallward, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Claude Akins, Sam Edwards, Jean Fenwick, Fred Graham, Gertrude Graner, Helen Kleeb, Burt Mustin, Hugh Sheraton, Lyn Thomas, Ted Thorpe and Brad Trumbull.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5344

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