Claire is...

FILM 1157: WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

TRIVIA: Alfred Hitchcock said "Many times, people have told me how much they enjoyed Witness for the Prosecution (1957). They thought it was my film instead of Billy Wilder's. And Wilder told me people asked him about The Paradine Case (1947), thinking he had done it."

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester (the nurse, Miss Plimsoll) were real-life husband and wife.

Unsure if he could play a man with a heart condition, Charles Laughton (Sir Wilfrid) staged a heart attack in the pool one day at home. His wife, Elsa Lanchester (Miss Plimsoll), and a houseguest panicked and pulled him from the water, at which point he explained his trick. Elsa's reaction has not been recorded.

In order to show just one of Marlene Dietrich's famous legs, an entire scene was written that required 145 extras, 38 stunt men and $90,000.

Marlene Dietrich was so certain she would be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Christine Vole that she recorded a new introduction to her Las Vegas show mentioning her nomination. She was not nominated, and was crushed.

The studio where filming was going on had an agreement hanging outside the door that everyone who came in had to sign, promising they would not reveal the surprise ending.

The courtroom setting, which cost $75,000 to build, was a recreation of an actual courtroom in London's Central Criminal Courts, The Old Bailey.

The press book, reviews and various articles about the production stated that the principal cast members themselves did not even know the ending of the film until the last day of shooting, when the final ten pages of the script were presented to them.

Noel Coward acted as special dialogue director for Marlene Dietrich.