''Your Witness'' is a 1950 British
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by and starring
Robert Montgomery. It also features
Leslie Banks
Leslie James Banks CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chor ...
,
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby.
Earl ...
and
Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ...
. It was released in the U.S. as ''Eye Witness''.
Premise
A leading American lawyer travels to London to defend an old friend from the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
who is facing a charge of murder.
Cast
*
Robert Montgomery as Adam Heyward
*
Leslie Banks
Leslie James Banks CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chor ...
as Colonel Summerfield
*
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby.
Earl ...
as The Judge
*
Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ...
as Sir Adrian Horth
KC
*
as Alex Summerfield
*
Harcourt Williams
Ernest George Harcourt Williams (30 March 1880 – 13 December 1957) was an English actor and director. After early experience in touring companies he established himself as a character actor and director in the West End. From 1929 to 1934 he ...
as Richard Beamish
*
Jenny Laird
Phyllis Edith Mary Blythe (13 February 1912 – 31 October 2001), known professionally as Jenny Laird, was a British stage, film and television actress.
Early life and education
Born in Manchester, Laird and her parents moved to the south, a ...
as Mary Baxter
*
Michael Ripper
Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor.
He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough ...
as Samuel 'Sam' Baxter
*
Ann Stephens
Ann Stephens (21 May 1931 – 15 July 1966) was a British child actress and singer, popular in the 1940s. She was born in London. In July 1941 she recorded several songs, including a popular version of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", " Dicky Bird Hop ...
as Catherine Ann 'Sandy' Summerfield
*
Wylie Watson
Wylie Watson (6 February 1889 – 3 May 1966) (born John Wylie Robertson) was a British actor. Among his best-known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's film ' ...
as Mr. Widgery, Red Lion Proprietor
*
Noel Howlett
Noel Howlett (22 December 1902 – 26 October 1984) was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme ''Please Sir!'' He was the subject of infatuation by De ...
as Martin Foxglove KC, Sam's Barrister
*
James Hayter as Prouty
*
John Sharp as Police Constable Hawkins
*
Shelagh Fraser
Sheila Mary Fraser (25 November 1920 – 29 August 2000) was an English actress. She is best known for her roles in the television serial '' A Family at War'' (1970–1971) and as Luke Skywalker's aunt Beru in '' Star Wars'' (1977).
Early life
S ...
as Ellen Foster
*
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC sit ...
as Waitress
*
Stanley Baker
Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...
as Sergeant Bannoch
*
Erik Chitty
Erik Chitty (8 July 1907 in Dover, Kent – 22 July 1977 Brent, Middlesex), was an English stage, film and television actor.
Early life
Chitty was the son of a flour miller, Frederick Walter Chitty and his wife Ethel Elsie Assistance née Fra ...
as Clerk of the Court
*
Amy Dalby
Amy Mary Dalby (3 January 1888 – 10 March 1969) was an English actress of stage and screen, often in kindly or eccentric spinster roles.
Amy first acted at the age of six. Her final performance was in the 8 March 1969 episode "The Battle of G ...
as Mrs. Widgely
*
Wensley Pithey
Wensley Ivan William Frederick Pithey (21 June 1914 – 10 November 1993) was a South African character actor who had a long stage and film career in Britain.
Biography
Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the Univers ...
as Alfred
*
Hal Osmond
Hal Osmond (27 May 1903 – December 1959) was a British stage, film and television actor. He played Anselm in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' episode "Errand of Mercy" (1956).
Selected filmography
* '' Once Upon a Dream'' (1949)
* ''Vote for H ...
as Taxi Driver
Critical reception
In ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
wrote, "Robert Montgomery's 'Eye Witness,' which came to the Little Carnegie on Saturday, is an amiable combination of British and American cinema crafts, run up for pleasant diversion if not exceptional note"; and ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' rated the film two out of five stars, calling it a "Routine crime melodrama with another of the American heroes British audiences seem to like."
References
External links
*
1950 films
British drama films
1950 drama films
1950s English-language films
Films directed by Robert Montgomery (actor)
Films set in England
British black-and-white films
1950s British films
{{1950s-UK-film-stub