Directed by Roy Rowland for producer Chester Erskine in 1954, Witness To Murder arrives on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber as part of their Studio Classics line. The film never had a DVD release, at least not domestically, and that's a shame as despite the fact that it is a bit familiar in spots, it's a really entertaining and atmospheric film with a great cast and some excellent cinematography.

The story revolves around a woman named Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) who watches out her window and sees a woman across the way being strangled. She calls the police and reports the crime but when the officers arrive on the scene, they find no body and no evidence of any such murder. They chalk all of this up to a bad dream and head back to the station despite Ms. Draper's attempts to convince them that what she saw was very real indeed.

As it turns out, there definitely was a murder but it was pulled off by a man named Albert Richter (George Sanders), a Nazi who has become an expert in cleaning up crime scenes and getting rid of evidence and corpses alike. With nothing to tie him to the crime, Richter seems able to convince the police that Draper is off her rocker but she refuses to let up in her claims even after a stint in a hospital and is quite prepared to take things to the next level if need be, with a little help from a sympathetic police officer named Lawrence Matthews (Gary Merrill).

A film that bares more than a passing resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock's considerably better known Oscar winner Rear Window, this picture may borrow a little here and there from that picture but stands out enough on its own to make it worth a watch. It's a very nicely shot film with John Alton's shadowy black and white cinematography doing an excellent job of crafting a world full of shadowy suspense. Additionally, Herschel Burke Gilbert's score compliments the look and the tight pacing of the film really nicely, highlighting both the more dramatic moments and the more suspenseful set pieces with equally impressive flair. This may have been done on a modest budget but Rowland would appear to have gotten all of his ducks in a row for this slick and twisted noirish thriller.

The cast all turn in great work here too. Merrill, as the only one who will even really consider believing poor Cheryl, is pretty good as the ‘nice guy' on the force. Top billed Barbara Stanwyck is as beautiful as ever and delivers a top notch performance here. As she becomes increasingly frustrated and then fearful from the situation she finds herself in we see her character transformation take place and she really delivers excellent work here. There's an admirable commitment to character shown by the leading lady, but so too by George Sanders who tends to steal a few scenes as the nasty former German officer. There's some effectively creepy undertones to his work here that indicate that his character is not out only to clear his name and stay out of jail but also to get as much as he can out of toying with Cheryl. You could probably read all manner of perversion into how he deals with her, the only really strong female character in the movie, and there's a strange style to his line delivery that would indicate that you probably should!

This one may wind up forever doomed to live in the shadow of Hitchcock's picture but noir/thriller fans would be doing themselves a disservice by not giving Witness To Murder its fair shot.

Witness To Murder debuts on Blu-ray from Kino in a 1.75.1 widescreen transfer presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Detail here is pretty solid and while some minor print damage is present in the form of some small scratches and specks throughout the film and an occasional scratch. The source used for the transfer was evidently in fairly good condition even if it wasn't flawless. Grain is present and frequently quite thick throughout the presentation but it never gets so heavy as to distract from the generally solid detail and texture that the HD transfer offers. Black levels are really nice, quite strong, and contrast looks spot on. All in all this is a sharp and crisp image offering surprisingly good texture and contrast along with strong shadow detail. The movie looks quite good in HD, there's nothing to object to here at all, the grainy image feels nice and authentically film-like. Fans should be quite pleased with the visuals on this release.