MovieChat Forums > Witness for the Prosecution (1958) Discussion > Did no one laugh at this?

Did no one laugh at this?

posted 11 years ago by canadianidiott66
30 replies | jump to latest

I am an avid and young classic film fan, who accepts the limitations of the times, and also some of the aspects of a classic film that would make it "unwatchable" or "ludicrous" to someone in my age group.

But.......

Did ANYONE laugh at all with Marlene's "DAMNNNN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"?

I love Marlene Dietrich. She is amazing in my eyes and iconic, but I have always found her terribly overrated (which is an entirely different discussion).

That one shot though, did NO ONE find her exclamation chuckle worry or even surprising? I jumped a little and actually laughed with her delivery. I don't even know how to explain it.

[–] mrwnmero 9 years ago

I thought this was too much of a reaction from her, but by the end of the movie when you find out that they all cooked the meal together, I realized that she intended to be overreacting since it is not true, she was putting on an act to convince the jury. that was awesome, really.

Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying!

[–] mikekrit62 9 years ago

Charlton Heston later said that Dietrich's scene was the inspiration for his closing line in Planet of the Apes.

And Tolstoy originally wanted to call War and Peace "War, What Is It Good For?"

[–] dannieboy20906 8 years ago

I keep in mind, especially on repeat viewings that both Marlene Dietrich's and Tyrone Power's characters are acting out roles to the other characters in the film. So, their over-acting can be attributed to them deliberately over-acting to look amateurish. I remember Marlene's wailing quote, but I don't remember if it is in one of those acting as amateur actor moments. We got both kinds when she was in the witness docket and elsewhere.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] Forlorn_Rage 8 years ago

Did ANYONE laugh at all with Marlene's "DAMNNNN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"?

I didn't laugh, but I did find it very humourous and ironic to see a woman, so prided in her coolness and restraint, suddenly burst into wailing at the top of her lungs, lol.

[–] Forlorn_Rage 8 years ago

Did ANYONE laugh at all with Marlene's "DAMNNNN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"?

I didn't laugh, but I did find it very humourous and ironic to see a woman, so prided in her coolness and restraint, suddenly burst into wailing at the top of her lungs, lol.

[–] BarbaraCT (11) 6 years ago

I know I'm a bit late to reply to this thread, but I recently saw the film again after not having seen it for several years - and gosh, did I love every second of it!
That "DAMNNN YOOOUUUU!" works very well in the German version too (although, unfortunately, in German Marlene Dietrich is not speaking herself; she's dubbed - superbly - by the German actress Tilly Lauenstein) where she calls out, "TEEEUUUFEELL!" (pronounced somewhat like "toyfle"), meaning "devil". :-)

It truly is one of those movies that will always remain a classic, one you never get tired of. (At least that's what I feel.)

"I may never go home anymore..." (singing)
:-)

[–] UdoConstantini (117) 3 years ago

It's meant to be over the top. She comes to pieces too easily, to ensure that her testimony is utterly discredited with the jury. This made it easy to anticipate that she and her sorta hubby were in cahoots. However, Wilder gets us with a double twist, which I did not anticipate.

[–] Quint (935) 2 years ago

It isnt so hard to get even for young ones with no movie experience (like you obviously). Dietrich played a woman which by herself played the role of a lying woman in front of a huge audience. You shouldnt forget that she was telling the truth the whole time in court! But when she was confronted with the letters, she herself gave to the defense attorney, this simply person had to play for the first time in front of an huge court audience. She had to play a caught liar. And no ordinary person will play this better then the person Dietrich played. Doing this in any other way would have been incredible stupid and would have destroyed the whole scene.

So next time you like to embarrass yourself ... try at least to think about the character you see at that scene.

[–] Stratego (29286) 10 months ago

She was a terrible actress. I thought everybody else was pretty good playing their roles tongue-in-cheek, but she acted more like a bit part on a daytime soap.

Anyway, her acting in that scene was so over-the-top, it should've been a dead giveaway to the jury.