Der unbekannte Zeuge

This 1981 film, showed up on cable recently. The film is interesting, and timely, because it parallels a political situation that has been playing in the news in 2005: the imprisoning of a New York Times reporter for not revealing her source about the identity of a CIA agent.

"Word of Honor", directed by Mel Damski, also deals with a newspaper writer who finds himself at the center of a court case in which a prominent figure of the community is unmasked by the journalist as a sexual predator. Since he is bound by the promise he made to a young, abused girl, who now lives in complete anonymity, this reporter would rather sticks by his word than reveal the story which was given to him in confidence.

Karl Malden, an actor of integrity, plays the upright Mike McNeill, the reporter for the local paper that is at the center of the story. His oldest daughter is getting married and he risks going to jail and not be able to escort her down the aisle. Mr. Malden plays the role with conviction.

The film is interesting because it's the first feature in which John Malcovich, an actor who went far in his career, had his first appearance. Rue McClanahan plays Maggie, the wife that sticks by her man and ultimately is instrumental in her husband's acquittal. Ron Silver plays a New York newspaper reporter. Henderson Forsythe, Jacqueline Brookes, John Marley, and the rest of the cast do good work for the director.

The film is worth seeing because it shows a man that sticks to his principles and will not denounce his source, under any circumstance, and will go to jail to defend what he believes in.

In the aftermath of sensationalistic TV movies that have come down the pike since this one, a bit of the sting has worn off and it comes across as rather simple now. Still, some good acting and a solid moral viewpoint help make it worthwhile entertainment. Malden plays a reporter who receives an anonymous tip about the whereabouts of a missing teen girl. The tip leads him and the police to a prominent citizen who has been kidnapping, raping and sometimes killing various stray girls. Problem is, the only way to make the charges stick is for Malden to reveal his source to the judge, but he gave his word that he would never do so. Thus, he becomes a town pariah and his wife and three daughters find themselves paying a price for his silence. Malden gives a typically strong, effective performance. The movie is pretty much a showcase of his considerable talents. McClanahan, however, as the wife, gets in a couple of good licks as well. Silver gives weight to his minor role of a visiting reporter covering the brouhaha and Malkovich makes his screen debut as the fiancee of one of Malden's daughters. What's contrived is how there just happen to be events, desires and so on of the family which are cruelly stomped out as a result of this issue (loan refusals, rejected auditions, wedding snubs, etc...) It gets to be a little unbelievable, but thanks to a cast that is mostly rooted in reality, it comes across pretty well and winds up being a moving film. (It, thankfully, has no sign of the hyper-kinetic violence, faux-terror, rain-soaked revenge aspects which have overrun virtually all TV movies since the late-80's!)

(There are Spoilers) With the Hull's desperately trying to find their runaway 16 year-old daughter Cindy the editor of the local Plymounth newspaper The Local Tribune Gordan Agee, John Marley, runs a photo of Cindy on the front page as a missing person story.

The next day Tribune reporter Mike McNeil, Karl Malden, gets a call from a young woman telling him that she knows where Cindy is and gives him an address on Limestone Road. Karl going to the place that the caller gave him finds out that it's an abandoned house that belongs to Plymouth Bank president Roger Clements, Dan Crane. With him not finding Cindy Hull Karl again get's a call, the next evening, from the same young woman telling him to come over to her home and she'll explain what she knows about Cindy's disappearance.

Meeting the woman Beth Simms, Alexa Kenin, she tells Karl about going to the deserted house to tell Clements to stop sending her money for her and is son Patrick that resulted from an affair that she had with him when she was a teenager. It's there that Beth saw and heard Cindy being beaten and abused by him. With Clements not seeing her, he was too busy beating up Cindy to notice, Beth decided to call the newspapers to get them to use their influence to have Cindy freed from this low-life creep. Karl promises Beth that he'll keep her identity secret since she's married and has a good job in town and feels that she would lose both if the truth comes out about her past that had to do with one of the "pillars" of Plymouth society bank president and philanthropist Roger Clements.

Karl getting the police and a court order to search the Limestone house, and the land around it, it's found that Clements did have a collection of porno pictures of young girls like Cindy that he had sex with and abused and Cindy's body was later found buried outside the House murdered. With Clements arrested and put on trial it's now up to Karl to reveal who told him where to find Cindy but he's bound by his promise, and code as a news reporter, not to reveal his source. Karl keeping quite in the end lands him behind bars and forces the courts to let Roger Clements go free. Now a lot more things start to happen to the McNeil family because of Karl's stead-fastness, not to reveal Beth's identity to the court and public, and they would lead to a sudden and dramatic change of heart on Beth's part.

Effective but very contrived movie about a reporter keeping his sources secret to the point where he's thrown behind bars like the criminals that he's trying to expose and get arrested because of secret information his sources give him. The movie also has in it a very young Ron Silver as New York Herald reporter David Lerner who traveled to Plymouth. Lerner goes there to lend support to Karl's crusade for the right for reporters to keep their sources secret. John Malkolich as Gary, Karl's future son-in-law, who's engaged to marry Karl's daughter Danise, Besty Baker, is also very affective in his very first motion picture.

P.S Young Alexa Kenin who played the abused Beth Simms in "Word of Honor" was brutally murdered In her NYC apartment five years later by her boyfriend. Alexa was 23 years old at the time of her murder with a bright future ahead of her in motion pictures; her last movie that she was staring in blockbuster "Pretty in Pink" with Molly Ringwald was released some five months after her tragic death.

Karl Malden gives his "Word of Honor" that he won't reveal a source in this 1981 film, also starring Rue McClanahan, John Marley, Ron Silver, Jeffrey DeMunn, Alex Kenin, and John Malkovich. Both Malkovich and Silver were baby-faced kids when this TV movie was made.

Malden is a newspaperman, Mike McNeill, who gets a line on a pillar of the community, Roger Clements (Dan Crane) from a young woman (Alexa Kenin) who claims that the man is a pedophile and kidnapper. As a result, a search warrant is served on a house he has, and the dead body of a missing girl is found as well as photographs of his victims. He has promised his informant, who has a brand new life with a husband and baby, that he will not reveal her name. However, Clements cannot be convicted without her testimony, or the evidence becomes hearsay and is then thrown out. The Malden character refuses to name his source, is put in jail and ostracized by the entire town.

Nowadays we are much more used to newspapermen refusing to name their sources so the situation the McNeills find themselves in may seem overly dramatic now. However, it makes a point that can't be driven home too often -- people only have ethics until they have something to lose. It's the rare person who sticks to his ethics in adversity. The acting is good, especially from Malden, and it's great to see the young Malkovich in a small TV role!

Sadly, the actress who plays the informant, Alexa Kenin, was murdered a few years later by her boyfriend. Alas, that's often the subject of Lifetime TV movies today.