By Frank Miller
The Witness Chair
Brief Synopsis
A woman lets her lover stand trial for the murder she committed.
Cast & Crew
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George Nicholls Jr.
Director
Ann Harding
Paula Young
Walter Abel
James Trent
Douglass Dumbrille
Stanley Whittaker
Frances Sage
Connie Trent
Moroni Olsen
Lieutenant Poole
Film Details
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Crime
Release Date
Apr
24,
1936
Premiere Information
New York opening: 17 Apr 1936
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novelette The Witness Chair by Rita Weiman in Cosmopolitan (Aug 1935).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 4m
Synopsis
When Lieutenant Poole and his assistant Costigan find the body of Stanley Whittaker holding a gun and a typewritten confession of guilt in a $75,000 embezzlement scheme, their first assumption is suicide. After examining the evidence more closely, however, they conclude that Whittaker was murdered and arrest their prime suspect, James Trent, the vice-president of the Whittaker Textile Corporation, whose gun delivered the fatal shot. In court, several witnesses, including Paula Young, Whittaker's secretary, who is in love with James, give testimony concerning James's activities on the day of the murder. Although Paula admits that she knew that Whittaker had bribed the company accountant, Henshaw, to redo the books so that the embezzled funds would show up in James's department, she fails to mention that she was in the office on the night of the murder. She also neglects to say that Connie Trent, James's daughter, had come to her apartment that same night, after nearly running off to Europe with Whittaker. On the stand, James admits that he had found out about Whittaker's frame-up on the day of the murder, but denies that he committed the crime. After testimony from James's secretary and an elevator operator, Connie is called to the witness chair, where she is forced to confess her secret romance with Whittaker. Fuelled with this new evidence, the prosecution then proposes that James had murdered Whittaker because of Connie. James's case appears hopeless until Paula stands up in court and announces that she killed Whittaker. Recounting the night of the murder, Paula states that when she found out about Whittaker's plans to abscond with Connie and the $75,000, she typed Whittaker's confession, which she hoped would exonerate James, and then forced him at gunpoint to sign it. During a subsequent struggle for the gun, Whittaker was shot, and Paula, fearful that Connie's affair would become public, remained silent about her involvement. After discussing her legal situation with the sympathetic judge, James takes Paula in his arms and proposes.
Director
George Nicholls Jr.
Director
Cast
Ann Harding
Paula Young
Walter Abel
James Trent
Douglass Dumbrille
Stanley Whittaker
Frances Sage
Connie Trent
Moroni Olsen
Lieutenant Poole
Margaret Hamilton
Grace Franklin
Maxine Jennings
Tillie Jones
William Benedict
Benny Ryan
Paul Harvey
Martin
Murray Kinnell
Conrick
Charles Arnt
Henshaw
Frank Jenks
Roy LeVino
Edward Le Saint
Judge McKenzie
Hilda Vaughn
Anna Yifnick
Barlowe Borland
O'Neil
Fred Kelsey
Costigan
Crew
Samuel J. Briskin
Executive Producer
George D. Ellis
Recording
Perry Ferguson
Art Director Associate
Robert De Grasse
Photography
Kenneth Holmes
Assistant Director
Rian James
Screenwriter
William Morgan
Editing
Bernard Newman
Gowns
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Gertrude Purcell
Screenwriter
Cliff Reid
Associate Producer
Roy Webb
Music Director
Film Details
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Crime
Release Date
Apr
24,
1936
Premiere Information
New York opening: 17 Apr 1936
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novelette The Witness Chair by Rita Weiman in Cosmopolitan (Aug 1935).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 4m
Articles
The Witness Chair
Ann Harding didn't realize it at the time, but her days as a Hollywood star ended with this tightly packed courtroom drama. Faced with declining box-office returns and guaranteed raises in her contract, the studio had declined to pick up the option for one of their best-paid stars shortly before production began.
For her final project, Harding chose Rita Weiman's Cosmopolitan magazine story in hopes her recent courtroom battles with ex-husband Harry Bannister, over custody of their daughter, would draw in scandal-hungry audiences. The film, however, presented a different type of courtroom battle. Harding is one of the key witnesses when the man she loves, widower Walter Abel, is tried for murdering boss Douglass Dumbrille. Harding quietly smoldered throughout the proceedings until the explosive climax where she proved she still knew how to sell a script. Unfortunately, audiences weren't buying. Neither was Harding at one point.
Midway through production she decided she was unhappy with the screenplay and tried to quit. Only the studio's threat to make her pay the $80,000 they'd already spent on the picture kept her in front of the cameras. Once the picture was done, she fled to England hoping to rebuild her career there. She would return to Hollywood six years later when she took a supporting role in MGM's Eyes in the Night (1942).
By Frank Miller
By Frank Miller
The Witness Chair
Ann Harding didn't realize it at the time, but her days as a Hollywood star ended with this tightly packed courtroom drama. Faced with declining box-office returns and guaranteed raises in her contract, the studio had declined to pick up the option for one of their best-paid stars shortly before production began.
For her final project, Harding chose Rita Weiman's Cosmopolitan magazine story in hopes her recent courtroom battles with ex-husband Harry Bannister, over custody of their daughter, would draw in scandal-hungry audiences. The film, however, presented a different type of courtroom battle. Harding is one of the key witnesses when the man she loves, widower Walter Abel, is tried for murdering boss Douglass Dumbrille. Harding quietly smoldered throughout the proceedings until the explosive climax where she proved she still knew how to sell a script. Unfortunately, audiences weren't buying. Neither was Harding at one point.
Midway through production she decided she was unhappy with the screenplay and tried to quit. Only the studio's threat to make her pay the $80,000 they'd already spent on the picture kept her in front of the cameras. Once the picture was done, she fled to England hoping to rebuild her career there. She would return to Hollywood six years later when she took a supporting role in MGM's Eyes in the Night (1942).
By Frank Miller
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A New York Times article about this film states: "After starting The Witness Chair, Miss Harding declared she was not satisfied with the script and would not continue. Briskin reminded her that the story had been purchased at her request and that she had approved the shooting script." The article also noted that in order to force Harding to finish the film, RKO threatened to sue her for the money already spent on the production, a total of $80,000. The Witness Chair was the last film of Harding's RKO contract. She did not make another film at the studio for many years. Hollywood Reporter production charts add Louise Latimer, George Offerman, Jr., Harry Bowen, Alan Curtis and Tony Martin to the cast, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed.
