Friday, December 21, 2012

Witness to Murder (1954)

United Artists
Directed by Roy Rowland
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Solid thriller released a few months before Hitchcock's Rear Window, with which it shares a similar plot. Barbara Stanwyck witnesses a murder through her apartment window late one night. The police write it off as a dream after visiting the supposed murderer, the debonair gentleman and author George Sanders, who appears beyond reproach, and finding no evidence. Stanwyck isn't convinced and turns amateur detective, which only gets her into more trouble. Sanders, an ex-Nazi, is smart, and manages to get her briefly put away in an insane asylum. However, Stanwyck has become friendly with one of the police detectives and he manages to get her out. Stanwyck and Sanders have a memorable showdown in a finale that would make Hitchcock proud.

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