Tuesday 5 May 2015

Five Miles to Midnight (1962 Anatole Litvak)

'That's a good title' I thought initially. But on reflection, it isn't.

Film is not without its moments, such as Anthony Perkins being visited first by a cat (which amusingly then follows him onto a window ledge), the next day by a boy. You think of Maurice Sendak and wonder what bizarre thing will come in the window next.

Also, the overly dramatic music, especially in places where there isn't any drama (like Sophia Loren ascending in a lift) is funny.

Q thinks Perkins shouldn't have taken the part: certainly you think he's a nutter from the word go, and that hangover from Psycho isn't helping any.

It's a bit dull, I'm afraid, right up to the finale where it looks like Sophia's gone nuts and Gig Young's calling the docs on her.

The fact that it's actually filmed in Paris, by Henri Alékan, doesn't save it.

It did, though, make me wonder that if a legally dead man opens a letter addressed to himself, is he breaking the law?

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