Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton star in this brilliantly made courtroom drama (The Film Daily) that left audiences reeling from its surprise twists and shocking climax. Directed by Billy Wilder, scripted by Wilder and Harry Kurnitz and based on Agatha Christie’s hit London play, this splendid, six-time Oscar-nominated* classic crackles with emotional electricity (The New York Times) and continues to keep movie lovers riveted until the final, mesmerizing frame. When a wealthy widow is found murdered, her married suitor, Leonard Vole (Power), is accused of the crime. Vole’s only hope for acquittal is the testimony of his wife (Dietrich) but his airtight alibi shatters when she reveals some shocking secrets of her own! –MGM
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city’s largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929, and wrote scripts for many German films until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Wilder immediately realized his Jewish ancestry would cause problems, so he emigrated to Paris, then the US. Although he spoke no English when he arrived in Hollywood, Wilder was a fast learner, and thanks to contacts such as Peter Lorre (with whom he shared an apartment), he was able to break into American films. His partnership with Charles Brackett started in 1938 and the team was responsible for writing some of Hollywood’s classic comedies, including Ninotchka (1939) and Ball of Fire (1941). The partnership expanded into a producer-director one in 1942, with Brackett producing, and the two turned out such classics… read more
Twist after twist, how brilliant! Marlene Dietrich and Billy Wilder make an unbeatable team.
There are nice flourishes—Laughton interrogating people with his monocle, the twist at the end—but there are also sections that are, imho, fairly conventional. And maybe I’m crazy, but there was a whole scene I remember being in this movie that wasn’t there this time: a meeting in a shadowy stairwell involving Dietrich(?), where some sort of message is passed? Am I crazy? (And if I’m not, where’d you put it TCM?)
Really good twists (plural) at the end! Laughton, who I have liked from a couple other performances in the ‘30s, plays an English Barrister. He’s recovering from a heart attach and any extreme emotional… read review