In the fifties, the dubbing of foreign movies, who treated the subject Nazis or ex-Nazis, were often different from the original. And because nearly all foreign movies and TV-shows had been dubbed in German, nobody realized the difference. Today, of course, you can find all the information on the web. In the German dubbed version the name of the murderer is Gabor Rethy. In the German version, also the scenes are cut out, where Richter is referred as an old Nazi, there is also a different version of the book cover. Besides that, this movie is a very fine example of a film noir, with great actors as Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders and Gary Merrill.

The title, "Witness to Murder" tells you what this movie is all about in three words. Made near the end of the classic film noir period, it is a riveting drama. It had unfortunately disappeared in recent years largely because of its plot similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window".

Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) witness Albert Richter (George Sanders) strangling an unknown female. She immediately calls the cops. Lt. Lawernce Mathews (Gary Merrill) and Sgt. Eddie Vincent (Jesse White),respond. The police at first dismiss Cheryl's story chalking it up to a bad dream. Mathews becomes attracted to Cheryl and the two begin seeing each other. Although sympathetic, Mathews continues to insist on some sort of evidence to substantiate Cheryl's story.

Richter, meanwhile learns that Cheryl had witnessed the murder and concocts a plan to discredit her story and create the impression that she is going mad. Police Captain Donnelly (Harry Shannon) is convinced and has Cheryl placed in an "observation" ward at the local hospital. Following her release and despite Mathews' attempts to try and prove her story, Richter confronts Cheryl in her apartment and.....................................

Barbara Stanwyck gives a stand out performance as the nervous Cheryl. Her scenes in the hospital are especially riveting as she tries to convince the medical staff of her sanity. Claire Carleton, Juanita Moore and the then 90 plus year old Adeline DeWalt Reynolds impress as the other patients in the room. Was there ever a better actor to play the suave sophisticated stuffed shirt villain than George Sanders? His cunning manipulative Richter is one of his best performances. Jesse White (the Maytag repairman) has little to do except smoke his trademark cigar.

The atmosphere of the story is pure noir, complete with darkened rooms, rain soaked streets et al. The only criticism I have is the scene where Sanders confesses to Stanwyck and reveals his plans for the future. A little melodramatic and unnecessary in my opinion.

After all is said and done "Witness to Murder" turns out to be a classic film noir.

A woman (Barbara Stanwyck)'s sanity comes into question, after she claims to have witnessed a murder from her apartment window.

So, this film has the interesting distinction of coming out around the same time as "Rear Window" and shares some plot similarities -- the basic premise that a murder is witnessed out a window and the police do not believe the viewer. Due to the timing, this film has become rather obscure... how do you compare to Hitchcock?

But we have just as good of a thriller with plot twists and turns, and some unexpected developments. Was it a hallucination? Or is she being tested by the killer? One can never be too sure, as she is without the faintest shred of evidence.