Witness for the prosecution

The Paradine Case

(1947)

A fascinating film, which is not to say a particularly good one. Valli's role, as a shady lady in love with an unattainable man, punishing the straitlaced man who loves her for his role in her love's demise, makes it impossible not to think of The Third Man; Gregory Peck as the defense attorney in a lost cause makes it impossible not to think of To Kill a Mockingbird; Charles Laughton in a powdered wig with a femme fatale on the dock makes it impossible not to think of Witness for the Prosecution.

Meanwhile, the obscure Ann Todd is surprisingly affecting as Gay Keane, the odd woman out in a love triangle (quadrangle?), and the most interesting character by far, though on screen for perhaps only 10 minutes, is Judy Flaquer (Joan Tetzel), Gay's best friend, daughter of the mentor of Gay's husband Tony (Peck): is she too in love with Tony? Or with Gay?