ksdilauri Review of Witness to Murder

Witness to Murder (1954)

Fine cast in a low-budget but watchable melodrama.

[7/10 · 8 December 2023]

Well, this is a strange little number, but the pluses outweigh the minuses. The cast is top-notch, and the basic premise---a 'Rear Window'-ish murder mystery--works overall. It can be enjoyed more if you overlook things like the detectives' blowing off Stanwyck's accusation of murder with nary an investigation; when she pretends to be apartment-hunting, the building manager uses his passkey to show her the occupied flat next to it so she can "get an idea what it would look like furnished"--without even knocking. (You'd think that even in 1954, that would be cause for the householder to shoot to kill.) And, of course, the always-hard-to-buy chase scene where "heroine easily outruns bad guy and scales stairways while wearing high heels." In spite of some semi-soap-opera dramatics, it's put together in a neat little package. Worth a watch for the talented cast, especially Sanders' suave villain, and a fairly nail-biting climax.