The Witness Chair is a 1936 American courtroom drama film directed by George Nicholls, Jr. and starring Ann Harding, Walter Abel and Douglass Dumbrille.

[1][2][3] Late one night, secretary Paula Young (Ann Harding) leaves the office of her boss, Stanley Whittaker (Douglas Dumbrille, locking the door and taking the stairs to avoid being seen by the elevator operator (Frank Jenks).

Police Lieutenant Poole (Moroni Olsen) finds a letter signed by Whittaker in which the deceased states he embezzled $75,000.

Soon, however, he suspects otherwise and, after investigating, arrests widower James "Jim" Trent (Walter Abel), the vice president of Whittaker Textile Corporation.

The New York Times dismissed it as "a lugubrious and mediocre film;"[4] while more recently Noirish called it a "very interesting B-movie," writing that "The Witness Chair is no hidden classic, but it’s a movie far better and certainly far more intriguing than its obscurity might suggest.