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Eigentlich ist Sir Wilfrid Robarts gesundheitlich noch gar nicht imstande, Leonard Vole vor einem Londoner Schwurgericht zu verteidigen. Aber der berühmte Anwalt kann dem Reiz des Falls nicht widerstehen: Leonard Vole wird beschuldigt, sich aus Habgier an die reiche Witwe Emily French herangemacht und sie ermordet zu haben. Und ausgerechnet Voles Frau Christine tritt als Zeugin der Anklage auf.
Avis de la communauté (9)
Many people rate this as Christie’s best movie adaptation. I disagree and find several others to be better. It’s good of course but I much prefer Death on the Nile from ‘78 which is my favorite. It has great actors, much more interesting characters and possibly the best on locations sets of any film. As for this movie, Tyrone Power’s acting is pretty awful. The way he speaks makes it seem as if he is repeating memorized lines - which he is of course lol but he’s not supposed to show it. What’s great about this film IMO is Christie’s plot and not so much the movie itself. Plus court room dramas suck. There I said it.
I think this is a generally good movie. The problem is, by this point, it's been copied many times over. Another movie that popped immediately into my head was [spoiler] High Crimes with Ashley Judd, Jim Caviezel, and Morgan Freeman. [/spoiler] However, there are many others. This is a common problem with classics and it's unfortunate because I'm sure at the time this was a great hit. But now it's been said and done so many times, it just feels like a run-of-the-mill courtroom drama. And especially in our current time, when the curtain of idealism about criminal justice has been pulled back to reveal the harsh (and unfair) reality, the shock and cynicism of this movie simply falls flat. Still, that's not to say it wasn't an enjoyable watch. Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, and Marlene Dietrich all gave great performances. Laughton, in particular, is very convincing and humorous as a crotchety old lawyer. Of course, as with many classics, there's the usual sprinkling of misogyny and xenophobia. And there's ample amounts of exposition. I'm beginning to think it can't be a classic without a heap of that. Overall, if you like courtroom dramas, mysteries, or just classics in general, this is definitely worth a watch. If not, it's still probably worth a watch but expect it to feel very familiar.
This is so excellent.What a remarkable movie!It full of tense but humor.Great!