The Silent Witness

Bramwell Fletcher is incensed when he goes to see his lover, Greta Nissen, and finds her making love to another man, Weldon Heyburn, her husband. Fletcher orders him out of the flat he pays for, and then quarrels with Miss Nissen. He strangles her. Then, in terror, he rushes home to his parents, Lionel Atwill and Mary Forbes. Soon the police come seeking Miss Nissen's murderer and arrest Atwill. To shield his son, Atwill goes into the defendant's box to face and crumble beneath the questions of the prosecuting attorney.

It's a pretty good movie, and after watching seemingly dozens of movies in which Atwill played a bad guy, it's a fine performance. The courtroom scenes are terrific, and the denouement is good too, even though Heyburn sounds enough like Clark Gable to be startling.

It's the first directorial credit for Marcel Varnel, in collaboration with more frequent production manager R.L. Hough. Varnel would leave Hollywood for England in a few years, where he would become an expert in cut glass farce, refereeing films starring Will Hay, the Crazy Gang, and George Formby.

When the story begins, A very dumb young weasel (Bramwell Fletcher) arrives at his mistress' apartment which he pays for and keeps her living in style. Unfortunately, she's a user and is already married...and the dumb young man staps. She begins berating him...taunting him to kill her! And so, he strangles her and runs from the apartment.

The young idiot arrives home and soon him non-evil girlfriend and his parents arrive. He tells them about strangling the girl. Soon the police arrives...and the father inexplicably claims the wallet and check they found in the dead woman's apartment are his...but he didn't kill her. He is arrested and most of the rest of the movie consists of a trial in which they are trying to prove the father is a killer.

This film has a neat plot but makes a lot of mistakes that ruin what could have been a dandy film. First, Fletcher's acting isn't very good. Second, the courtroom scene with the outburst is pretty ridiculous...farfetched but also way overdone. Third, and worst, the ending was a muddled mess...as if they were trying to re-write the entire movie and give a completely different explanation for things...even though we saw the young weasel strangle the victim. It was also cliched and stupid...so much so that I cannot recommend the movie.

This was really an exciting film to watch. Great performance by Lionel Atwill as a lawyer defending his son accused for murdering a shrewd gold digger played by the wonderful Greta Nissen. Trying to con innocent men from falling for her charms backfires and results in a murder that has several twist before resolved. The film has both atmosphere and drama. It moves quickly from court room to the scene of the crime. The actors portrays the characters with personality and talent. It is interesting to watch Greta Nissen in a role that makes her look and act like Jean Harlow. It was Jean Harlow that replaced Nissen when Howard Hughs decided to re-shoot HELLS ANGELS (1930) and make it into a sound film. But Greta Nissen proves in this film that she was a star to be reckoned with. Enjoy this gem and lets hope that Fox will restore "Silent Witness" to its glory and release it on video/DVD... We are allowed to hope !

This seldom seen Fox courtroom melodrama at first looks like it is a paint by numbers precode, but the second half shows that it is more than that.

In London, Young Anthony Howard (Bramwell Fletcher) is seeing a slightly older more worldly woman, Nora (Greta Nissan). But one day when visiting her flat he finds her extranged husband visiting, acting like he comes and goes at will and making fun of Tony. When the husband leaves, Tony and Nora get into a fight, she breaks up with him, and Tony strangles her in a fit of passion. He flees the scene in a panic. He tries to keep it from his family, but then he learns the police are on the way and he spills everything. His dad , Sir Austin (Lionel Atwill), sends everyone else upstairs while he speaks to the police, who are indeed there to talk about Nora's murder. But they are actually there to speak to Sir Austin, because they found his billfold in Nora's flat. Now that's a surprise. So Sir Austin goes on trial for Nora's murder unwilling to say his son did it, but also thinking that he can get acquitted himself.

But then, like the title says, there is a silent witness. OK, exactly how many men did Nora have stuffed in her apartment that night, none knowing about the others? And what kind of police force risks the life of a witness when they know the bad guy has a cane that ... shoots bullets???

It turned out far less conventional than I thought it was going to be, and it is great seeing Lionel Atwill before he was typecast in B horror films involving cannibalism, vampirism, and wax museums. Greta Nissan played the female lead in the silent version of Hell's Angels, but was replaced by Jean Harlow when it was remade with sound. And the irony is that is exactly who Greta Nissan reminds me of here - Jean Harlow. She has the voice and the attitude.