Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Sir Wilfrid Robarts, a master barrister, just recovering from a heart attack, takes on Leonard Vole as a case. This is despite the objections of his private nurse, Miss Plimsoll, who says the doctor warns him against taking on any criminal cases. Leonard is accused of murdering Mrs. Emily French, a rich, older widow who had become enamored of him, going so far as to make him the main beneficiary of her will. Strong circumstantial evidence points to Leonard as the killer, but Sir Wilfrid believes Vole is innocent.

When Sir Wilfrid speaks with Leonard’s German wife Christine, he finds her rather cold and self-possessed, but she does provide an alibi, although by no means an entirely convincing one. Therefore, he is greatly surprised when, at the end of the trial, she is summoned as a witness by the prosecuting barrister. While a wife can not be compelled to testify against her husband, Christine was in fact still married to Otto Helm, a German man now in an insane asylum, when she wed Leonard (who was in the Royal Air Force and part of the occupation forces in Germany at the time, and married her to help her escape Germany). She testifies that Leonard confessed he had killed Mrs. French, and her conscience forced her to finally tell the truth.