A Testemunha Oculta

Robert Montgomery, by 1950 better known as an actor than as a director, takes on both duties in EYE WITNESS (or YOUR WITNESS, in the US movie circuit) - and I have to say that he does remarkably well.

To that end, he is ably assisted by the UK postwar-evocative cinematography of Gerald Gibbs, and screenplay by Hugo Butler and Ian Hunter, telling of US Major and lawyer Adam Heyward flying to the UK to save from the gallows a UK Army sergeant who had saved his life behind German lines during World War II.

Of course, upon arrival in the UK he finds that the English spoken there is different (some chuckles at the interpretation of words and expressions), that lawyers and judges dress and address colleagues and the public rather more formally than in Uncle Sam, and he meets a host of British characters played by supporting thespians of the highest grade, including Michael Ripper as the wrongly accused friend Heyward does his utmost to rescue from the noose, Felix Aylmer as judge, James Hayter as trial witness, Stanley Baker as a copper, Leslie Banks as Colonel Summerfield, pretty Shelagh Fraser as Ellen Foster, and many others in a supporting cast bristling with talent and sobriety to give the film an authentic British background.

Montgomery delivers a quietly effective performance, bemused at times, serious at other times, always with an eye on stunningly beautiful Patricia Wayne.

Though perhaps 10-15 minutes longer than it needed to be, dialogue is interesting throughout, B&W photography highly accomplished, especially the bucolic setting, which the extremely pleasant score by Malcolm Arnold only enhances.

After showing courage in directing and acting in LADY IN THE LAKE four years ealier, in which he appeared only in reflections in the mirror, Montgomery comes full circle as a talented director in this his final film, before turning to TV work.

Certainly worth watching.

I adore Robert Montgomery. He was a totally classy guy without being self-consciously so.

Here he plays a tough NYC attorney who is urged by his secretary to not just send money to the man who saved his life in the war but to cross the Atlantic to assist in his defense.

Montgomery directed and while there's a blessed minimum of cutesy quaintness added in the English village setting, it has a consistently British "literacy" bordering on wordiness, perhaps not out of place in courtroom scenes. It's all very low key and well done. Robert Montgomery had not lost any of his style since his early days and is still wry and bemused in one of his final acting roles.

Robert Montgomery's final screen appearance,which he also directed,is a slow moving mystery which spends far too much of the running time on irrelevant scenes pointing up the supposed differences between the British and American character. Montgomery meets a gallery of UK stereotypes such as garrulous publican,dim witted police sergeant and stuffy judge.

The plot concerns RM travelling to England to help clear an old army buddy of a murder charge. There is some mild suspense during the last twenty minutes when the identity of a secret witness is revealed. Leading lady Patricia Cutts (called Patrcia Wayne here) is one of those rather horsey English blondes with a cut glass accent. Her acting is rather stilted and there is little chemistry between her and Montgomery. It's a far cry from his wonderful acting/direction job on Lady In The Lake.

"Your Witness" was made at the Toddington Studio owned by Warner Brothers. Several US film companies set up studios in the UK because of a British law mandating a certain percentage of the movies shown in theaters would be made domestically. And, like many of these productions, an American prestige actor appeared in the film....and in this case, Robert Montgomery not only starred in it but directed as well.

The story begins in the States and Adam Heyward (Montgomery) learns that an old British war buddy has been arrested for murder! Adam drops everything and heads to the UK to see what help he can provide. While Adam also is a lawyer, he cannot defend this friend in church because he doesn't have any standing (privileges) in British courts. Instead, he investigates and spends much of his time looking for a supposed witness who can verify that the killing was done in self-defense.

This is a film that is the epitome of competent. It's not a great film nor a bad one...just a well made one that is worth seeing, particularly if you like Montgomery. Worth seeing.

This thriller moves at a snail's pace towards its very predictable conclusion.The first half of the film dwells on differences between American and British court procedures.This film was not only the swan song Of Robert Montgomery but also Leslie Banks.There is a brief glimpse of Stanley Baker at the early stages of his career.It is difficult though to realise that the Robert Montgomery who directed this film is the same one who directed the impressive Lady In the Lake.The fact that this was his last film wad probably more to do with the fact that he had bigger fish to fry.In any event at his age he was unlikely to attract many leading roles.Produced by Hitchcock colleague Joan Harrison.