Witness in the Dark


Witness in the Dark is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Patricia Dainton, Conrad Phillips, Madge Ryan, and Nigel Green.

Premise

Blind telephone operator Jane Pringle is present when her neighbour, elderly Mrs. Temple, is murdered by an intruder searching for a jewelled brooch. On the staircase, Jane accidentally brushes against the killer. Later, when Jane inherits the valuable brooch from Mrs. Temple, she finds herself targeted by the intruder.

Cast

The Radio Times wrote, "Coming between Bachelor of Hearts and Village of the Damned, this is one of Wolf Rilla's lesser efforts. However, he conjures up a pleasing sense of menace that anticipates Wait until Dark as he subjects blind telephonist Patricia Dainton to the murderous machinations of a prowler. As so often in thrillers of this kind, much depends on contrivance and the script might have concealed its hand with a little more artfulness. But Dainton's performance is superior to that seen in the majority of British Bs"; TV Guide on the other hand, found it "Standard and predictable," though agreed that "Dainton gives a nice performance"; while NoirWorthWatching described the film as "efficiently directed," and concluded that it "in many ways is more of a movie than its 62-minute length might suggest. Very much worth watching."