MovieChat Forums > Witness for the Prosecution (1958) Discussion > Marlene Dietrich as the Cockney Woman

Marlene Dietrich as the Cockney Woman

posted 15 years ago by Absalon_MacNair
57 replies | jump to latest

I still watch that scene over and over again and I cannot believe that is her. Is there any real evidence that the Cockney Woman is in fact played by Marlene Dietrich? The transformation is amazing. It isn't just that she looks nothing like her, it is that she looks nothing like her, but still looks like someone else. Take Eddie Murphy in "The Nutty Professor" for example. I at first didn't know he played all of the Klumps, but now that I do I can see it. Also, with the great Lon Chaney, he looks horriyingly brilliant in all of his roles, but I can still tell it is him. With this Cockney Woman, I would have sworn they hired another actress for it.

It is astonishing!

[–] JaneBingley 15 years ago

Yes, I agree with you. Marlene Dietrich was not that great of an actress that she could have pulled this off. She was over-acting in everything she did.

It is another woman, the whole face is different.

[–] Absalon_MacNair 15 years ago

Can anyone else answer my question?

[–] Senator_Corleone 15 years ago

It was her. She was just a really good actress working with a really good director. It's a magic trick, basically.

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[–] lorenzb-2 14 years ago

I absolutely did NOT recognize her face, mannerisms or voice. It was a brillant make up job, and even better acting. It really WAS Marlene for sure. The end took me completely by surprise. I hope they went easy on Christine too. Or even let her off. That would be better. If I was on the jury, I would have voted for acquittal in a minute.

[–] billytyner 13 years ago

It's her, but that's not her voice, it's another actress. I read they tried it with Marlene doing it, but it sounded too much like her, so they got someone else, that is a big part in helping the illusion.

[–] targa9 12 years ago

I doubt what you read was true, because in fact her impersonation of the Cockney Woman was not all that good, and I could tell it was Dietrich, since her unique German accent slipped out several times. Did you hear her pronounce the "r" as "w" that one time? That's not Cockney, or even German (v). That's Marlene Dietrich!

[–] panemique 11 years ago

Can you be more specific? When exactly did you hear her accent slip? When did she say "w" instead of "r"?

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wrlord2001 12 years ago

Really? You really can't tell it's her? She barely did anything to disguise herself. In fact, it's one of the worst "disguises" I've ever seen. Clark Kent's disguise is better.

[–] LCbaseball22 15 years ago

I disagree. I found it to be quite obvious...would have required a lot better makeup job to fool me. It's just that Marlene Dietrich has too distinct of a face...and not all that attractive either, too manly looking. Regardless it was a great film and a lot of the other twists got me. Lauren Bacall is another with manly facial features BTW, but that's not really relevant, LOL.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Agent-69 14 years ago

^ Marlene was a great actress, but back then big stars rarely got to play against type.

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[–] shadowsndust284 14 years ago

I recognized her voice before I knew it was her, but I had a hard time believing it by looking at her face. They did a good job.

[–] peybak 14 years ago

I thought they dubbed her voice? It looks more like her in the booth then at the bar. I don't know why.

[–] tbrittreid 14 years ago

When Christine demonstrates her Cockney pose to Sir Wilfrid in the mostly cleared courtroom, Dietrich's voice is definitely the production track.

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[–] siukong 14 years ago

It sounds very much like her voice was post-dubbed over the footage. That would incline me to be suspicious about whether it's actually Dietrich or not, but the fact that the Cockney woman just looks so weird makes me think it is actually her and the dubbing was just poor technical work (or maybe she was having trouble with her accent on the day of recording?).

[–] tbrittreid 14 years ago

It sounds "post-dubbed" to you just because it's a very different accent than you are used to hearing coming out of Dietrich's mouth. That factor aside, it is clearly the production track to anyone who knows how to tell the difference.

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!

[–] siukong 14 years ago

I think you misunderstood me. I meant that her voice in the scene in the train station sounded post-dubbed, not the scene in the courtroom.

[–] tbrittreid 14 years ago

Yeah, I think I did, so I'll try again. If Dietrich was made up as the Cockney woman but voiced by someone else (or didn't play her at all), that climactic line would have had to have been dubbed by the theoretical other actress as well. Since it wasn't post-synched--by Marlene or someone else--then Dietrich did play Christine-in-disguise, voice and all.

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] siukong 14 years ago

This is the jist of what I meant to convey in my original message. While watching the scene all I felt was a feeling of "weirdness" about the woman's voice sounding like it was recorded differently than those of the gentlemen. In hindsight, I realized that the voice of the cockney women HAD been Dietrich and it made more sense. tbrittreid seems to think I'm disputing whether it was Dietrich who both acted and voiced the woman. Quite the contrary - my initial suspicions are merely a testament to how good her disguise was!

[–] tkersh385-1 13 years ago

It was her. In both her daughter's bio and that of Steven Bach, they discuss it. There are pics of her in costume in one of them--both attempts at making her look un-Dietrich are pictured. The original makeup made her look like (to quote Maria Riva) "George C Scott in drag" and was pretty awful. The second attempt was better. They also talk about her driving everyone crazy practicing that accent (I believe Noel Coward was her voice coach) Look at her profile--the distinctive nose is there and also listen carefully--she still flubs her r's, even while speaking as a Cockney. However, she wasn;t given screen credit to preserve the surprise ending and it probably cost her the Oscar nomination.

[–] mmcvey1 13 years ago

I thought it was dead obvious it was Marlene. Who ever heard a German-Cockney accent before? If you're distracted by make-up then just shut your eyes and listen.

[–] Percivalx 14 years ago

I was fooled too. Great performance.

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[–] carlsez_1 14 years ago

First, "Absalon_Macnair", you need to change the subject heading. It's a spoiler.

Second, I did not see anything specific that would have suggested it was Dietrich, but I did pick up on an oddness about the character. My impression was that it was a man in drag. She looked like someone made up to look like someone else, that she was hiding her true identity. The cues or "evidence" as you say was that there was an overall made-up look about her.

I agree it was a very good transformation. For some people it doesn't take much to alter certain features even slightly to look different. Credit her acting as well, great actors have a way of transforming themselves just through mannerism and expression. This is especially true if you're well known for such an iconic look and persona like Dietrich.

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[–] cosmogirly 14 years ago

It's definitely her. Look at the hands, they're exactly the same.

[–] forbidden10 14 years ago

I was fooled too! Great performance by a legend.

It was her, indeed. Look at the nose and hands, they're exactly the same.

[–] generalusgrant 14 years ago

Though it was Dietrich, the voice was DUBBE. Billy Wilder said this in an interview for the German "Bunte" magazine in 1977. He said he never sought to hide the fact her voice was dubbed for the Cockney scene.

[–] Ruby_Bale_Desplat 14 years ago

Well actually I wasn't a 100% sure because of the accent but I recognised Marlene (the nose and shape of the face- Marlene had a rather unique face). Or maybe it's because I watched this movie as a child (sort of an unconscious thing because I felt like I was watching this movie for the very first time).

It was a good performance nevertheless .

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[–] Ironman54 13 years ago

"... she still flubs her r's"

I find it hard to believe that no one recognizes this was Marlene, if for no other reason, then by her distinctive speech impediment. She did a fair job of working around it but too much of the dialogue in her scene at the train station was comprised of words beginning with or containing the letter 'R' (including Laughtons name/'Wilfred'). For anyone not familiar enough with her speech, she would pronounce Wilfred as Wilfwed or Barbara as Babwa.
I've watched this movie at least 25 times and on each repeated viewing, the w's for r's stands out more and more to the point I now cringe hearing it - only because I want her to pull it off, not because it disturbs me etc.
I think Mr. Wilder was too decent a guy to trouble her about it or do anything that might hurt her feelings. If I hear it theres NO doubt he did too.
He could have dubbed in any available females voice yet he didn't. I have to believe it was out of respect for a living legend that he didn't. If it had been so obvious that it would have spoiled the surprise ending then I'm sure he would have done what he had to do regardless of 'hurt feelings' but she does just good enough of a job pulling it off for 1st times viewers.
*Maybe those posting were 'fooled' because they have just watched it for the 1st time. I know that upon my first viewing, I had no idea it was her. I, like most I'm sure, was too preoccupied trying to figure out where this surprise witness came from and how she would have got hold of the letters etc. Ya know 'somethings up', but not that its Christine/Marlene throwing a wrench into the works. I have to keep in mind that theres a whole new crop of young folk out there seeing these these vintage B&W's for 1st time ... but no, I ain't going back to the top of this post and starting over (retracting and re wording my 1st sentence), sorry :-)