TEHRAN – The cinematheque of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) screened the 1957 American legal mystery melodrama “Witness for the Prosecution,” directed by Billy Wilder, on Sunday.

The screening was a part of the “Law in Cinema” series on the theme of “Courthouse Dramas,” which was followed by a review session in the presence of Kaveh Rad, a lawyer and art law researcher, Mehr reported.

The film, which has elements of black comedy and film noir, is a courtroom drama set in the Old Bailey in London and is based on the 1953 play of the same title by Agatha Christie. 

In the film, a man accused of killing a wealthy widow, who had named him as the main beneficiary in her will, undergoes a trial during which his wife testifies against him. A veteran British barrister must defend his client in the murder trial that has surprise after surprise.

Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, and John Williams are in the cast, among others. 

“Witness for the Prosecution” was acclaimed by critics and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It also received five Golden Globe Award nominations, including a win for Elsa Lanchester as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. 

Additionally, the film was selected as the sixth-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute for its AFI's 10 Top 10 list. Agatha Christie herself considered it the finest film derived from one of her stories.

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers, particularly in the mystery genre.

A writer during the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction,” Christie has been called the “Queen of Crime” —a nickname now trademarked by her estate— or the “Queen of Mystery”. She is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. Wilder's career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of classical Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards (among 21 nominations), a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Wilder received various honors over his career, including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986, the National Medal of Arts in 1993, and the BAFTA Fellowship Award in 1995. He also received the Directors Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, and the Producers Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Seven of his films are preserved in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historicall,y or aesthetically significant”.

SS/SAB