Movie Review: Witness to Murder (1954)
Synopsis: When Cheryl Draper looks out her apartment window in time to see Albert Richter murder a woman, she immediately reports it to the police. However, detectives are unable to find any evidence and believe she just dreamt it. Not content with the police, including the detective she is dating, not believing her, Richter seeks to discredit Cheryl further by convincing people she's mentally ill and belongs in an asylum.
Who's in it? The movie stars Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill, Jesse White and Harry Shannon.
Review: I came across Witness to Murder last night and while it sounded a bit too much like Rear Window (which came out the same year), decided to add it to my library and wound up watching it this morning. It turned out to be a good choice.
I think the thing that I liked best about this film was Richter (Sanders). Movies like this are only as good as the main antagonist and you couldn't get one more solid than him. Not only did he clean up the murder scene to perfection, Richter also always managed to stay one step ahead of the police and Draper, whether it was being seen tearing a curtain (to hide the fact it was already torn) or filing a theft report on earrings Cheryl took from his apartment as evidence. By the end of the movie, there was much more evidence of her being insane than of him killing anyone.
Another thing I liked about the movie was the mystery surrounding Richter's victim. He was already a widower and the woman he was engaged to was still alive. When the police did find a body, there was no way to connect the victim to him.
The movie did get me thinking of the police as a bit of a villain as well. This was both because they were so quick to dismiss what she saw and because they didn't make much of an effort to disprove Richter's claims against her. For example, no attempt was made to get fingerprints off the letters he claimed she wrote him or her typewriter. It also wouldn't have hurt for them to make even a cursory effort to do a background check on him, just in case he did hide the body.
One of my favorite scenes had to be the one in the asylum. It did a great job of setting the atmosphere while also making it easy to understand how someone like Cheryl could very easily be made to seem insane. As that progressed, I wondered if she'd ever be able to convince people she didn't belong there.
My only negative comment about this film is I do wish it wouldn't have shown Richter with the body. It might have made the movie a little more interesting if the audience didn't see what Cheryl saw and also had some doubt about her sanity. However, even without that, I didn't have any real complaints.
Final Opinion: This is an entertaining psychological thriller that I enjoyed watching. While the concept isn't overly unique, the execution made it a memorable film.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1954:
Movie Review: The Fast and the Furious (1954)
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