The Star Witness

Directed by William A. Wellman, The Star Witness follows several family members, including Grant Mitchell’s Pa and Charles ‘Chic’ Sale’s Pvt. Summerill, as they witness a gangland shooting and are pressured by the District Attorney (Walter Huston’s Whitlock) into testifying against the vicious criminals responsible – with complications ensuing after Pa’s youngest son is kidnapped by said criminals. Filmmaker Wellman, working from Lucien Hubbard’s screenplay, delivers a mostly underwhelming drama that fares especially poorly in its meandering, uneventful opening stretch, and it’s clear, certainly, that the arms-length atmosphere is perpetuated by an assortment of forgettable, less-than-sympathetic central characters – although, by that same token, Wellman does manage to elicit relatively strong work from his various performers. (Sale’s over-the-top yet entertaining turn as the family’s crotchety grandfather remains a highlight, to be sure.) And while the sequence involving the aforementioned gangland shooting is admittedly far more tense and engrossing than one might’ve anticipated, The Star Witness eventually segues into a terminally static second half that seems to revolve entirely around the efforts at tracking down that kidnapped kid – which, though it closes with an exciting action interlude, cements the picture’s place as a completely forgettable endeavor that feels long even at 68 minutes.

** out of ****