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Caldera Records proudly presents John Cameron’s score for the TV movie “Witness for the Prosecution.”

What makes a good Agatha Christie story? Above all, a clever twist that feels natural, even necessary, to the plot, and one of her cleverest denouements appears in one of her most popular works, “Witness for the Prosecution.” An elderly solicitor, Sir Wilfred (here played by Ralph Richardson), is visited by a young client, Leonard Vole (Beau Bridges), who is accused of having killed a middle-aged woman by the name of French. It is revealed that Mrs. French had left her estate to Leonard, giving him, who is nearly destitute, ample reason to do away with her. But he insists on his innocence. He even claims to have a fireproof alibi: his wife, Christine Vole (played by Diana Rigg) was with him when the murder was supposed to have occurred.

Sir Wilfred is eager to throw himself into work. For him, it is an open-and-shut case. He calls on Christine, only to find that she hates her husband and does not doubt that he is indeed responsible for the poor woman’s death. Christine says she wasn’t with Leonard at the time of the murder and intends to appear in court as a witness for the prosecution. She has a few more surprises up her sleeve, though…

Agatha Christie’s works were at one of the peaks of their popularity when the TV movie was produced in 1982. Hallmark Television was eager to get a piece of the pie. How eager? After only a brief pre-production period the television film was shot in merely three weeks because Hallmark was desperate to premiere the film before Christmas 1982. Everything was done in a frenzy, including composing, orchestrating, and recording the score. John Cameron remembers the frantic schedule without having been bothered by it — as a film composer he was used to tight deadlines.

John Cameron decided to fuse ‘A Wandering Minstrel’ from “The Mikado” with his original composition, so in the film Gilbert and Sullivan’s music segues into ‘The Body in the Study’, before the melody then sneaks its way into subsequent cues. Cameron also developed several variations on the tune to make it sound more mysterious. Still, there is more the soundtrack has to offer. For Sir Wilfred, Cameron developed a strong theme that is both pompous and cheeky – ‘Elgarian’, as the composer describes it, invoking the master behind the “Enigma Variations.” Rather than make fun of the character, with its pastoral aspect the music underscores his gentle nature. By using the cimbalom for Christine Vole’s character, Cameron nudged the audience to think that Christine is ‘a little dangerous’, that she is playing a duplicitous game, only to then surprise the viewer at the end.

Caldera Records are pleased to make available John Cameron’s score for “Witness for the Prosecution” and thus complete the duo of his Agatha Christie adaptations. Unfortunately, the music only survived in mono on DAT cassettes. We have done our best to clean up the recording.

The 69th CD-release of Caldera Records features a detailed booklet text by Stephan Eicke and elegant artwork by Luis Miguel Rojas. The CD was mastered by Richard Moore and produced by Stephan Eicke.

Music Composed and Conducted by John Cameron
CD Produced by Stephan Eicke
Executive Producers for Caldera Records: John Elborg, Stephan Eicke
Album Art Direction and Design by Luis Miguel Rojas

01. London 1954/On a Wet and Moonless Night (1:20)
02. A Wandering Minstrel/The Body in the Study (1:38)
03. The Old Fox Leaves Hospital (2:28)
04. Enter Christine/An Anonymous Call (1:52)
05. Too Hopeless?/Joy-Deprived (0:51)
06. The Temptation of a Mystery/The Great Escaper (1:47)
07. A Test for Christine (0:44)
08. Heart to Heart (1:30)
09. Prison/What is the Truth Anymore? (1:15)
10. A Mean, Ill-Tempered Old Man/The Prosecution is Satisfied (1:26)
11. The Great Halls of Justice (0:30)
12. Rubbish/Unbelievable, Yet True (0:41)
13. A Face in the Dark (3:31)
14. A Confession of Sorts (0:42)
15. Ready for a Holiday/Neat and Tidy (0:58)
16. Banana Skin (0:35)
17. Suspicions/A Cursed Inheritance/He Said, She Said (3:18)
18. Christine’s Revenge (3:39)
19. Brandy/The Nurse from Hell (0:32)
20. End Titles (1:00)

Bonus:
21. Pub Source (0:35)
22. Conversation with John Cameron (7:42)