'Witness for the Prosecution' benefits from a great cast as well. There are some great twists, especially the very clever (though the one of the 1957 film had more edge) final reveal. Parts of the storytelling are very compelling, the whodunit and legal stuff is mostly quite riveting, while the conflict of WWI is powerfully evoked and the relationship between Mayhew and his wife having moments of tender pathos. The music is unobtrusive but still has a presence. Apart from going overboard on the grimness sometimes, particularly in the first half, 'Witness for the Prosecution' is very pleasing to look at, being beautifully shot and with costume and set design that are both handsome and evocative. But after being so impressed by 2015's 'And Then There Were None', I was honestly expecting much more. It is not awful, and there are worse Agatha Christie adaptations around, a most notable recent example being 'Partners in Crime' with a woefully miscast David Walliams. Of the adaptations of 'Witness for the Prosecution' it is this 2016 adaptation that fares the weakest, despite being closer to the short story than the play it is not a patch on the brilliant 1957 Billy Wilder film. Can definitely see the polarising opinions, the virtues being brought up are understandable and every bit as understandable are the complaints.
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