This seldom seen Fox courtroom melodrama at first looks like it is a paint by numbers precode, but the second half shows that it is more than that.
In London, Young Anthony Howard (Bramwell Fletcher) is seeing a slightly older more worldly woman, Nora (Greta Nissan). But one day when visiting her flat he finds her extranged husband visiting, acting like he comes and goes at will and making fun of Tony. When the husband leaves, Tony and Nora get into a fight, she breaks up with him, and Tony strangles her in a fit of passion. He flees the scene in a panic. He tries to keep it from his family, but then he learns the police are on the way and he spills everything. His dad , Sir Austin (Lionel Atwill), sends everyone else upstairs while he speaks to the police, who are indeed there to talk about Nora's murder. But they are actually there to speak to Sir Austin, because they found his billfold in Nora's flat. Now that's a surprise. So Sir Austin goes on trial for Nora's murder unwilling to say his son did it, but also thinking that he can get acquitted himself.
But then, like the title says, there is a silent witness. OK, exactly how many men did Nora have stuffed in her apartment that night, none knowing about the others? And what kind of police force risks the life of a witness when they know the bad guy has a cane that ... shoots bullets???
It turned out far less conventional than I thought it was going to be, and it is great seeing Lionel Atwill before he was typecast in B horror films involving cannibalism, vampirism, and wax museums. Greta Nissan played the female lead in the silent version of Hell's Angels, but was replaced by Jean Harlow when it was remade with sound. And the irony is that is exactly who Greta Nissan reminds me of here - Jean Harlow. She has the voice and the attitude.
In London, Young Anthony Howard (Bramwell Fletcher) is seeing a slightly older more worldly woman, Nora (Greta Nissan). But one day when visiting her flat he finds her extranged husband visiting, acting like he comes and goes at will and making fun of Tony. When the husband leaves, Tony and Nora get into a fight, she breaks up with him, and Tony strangles her in a fit of passion. He flees the scene in a panic. He tries to keep it from his family, but then he learns the police are on the way and he spills everything. His dad , Sir Austin (Lionel Atwill), sends everyone else upstairs while he speaks to the police, who are indeed there to talk about Nora's murder. But they are actually there to speak to Sir Austin, because they found his billfold in Nora's flat. Now that's a surprise. So Sir Austin goes on trial for Nora's murder unwilling to say his son did it, but also thinking that he can get acquitted himself.
But then, like the title says, there is a silent witness. OK, exactly how many men did Nora have stuffed in her apartment that night, none knowing about the others? And what kind of police force risks the life of a witness when they know the bad guy has a cane that ... shoots bullets???
It turned out far less conventional than I thought it was going to be, and it is great seeing Lionel Atwill before he was typecast in B horror films involving cannibalism, vampirism, and wax museums. Greta Nissan played the female lead in the silent version of Hell's Angels, but was replaced by Jean Harlow when it was remade with sound. And the irony is that is exactly who Greta Nissan reminds me of here - Jean Harlow. She has the voice and the attitude.