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Wait Until Dark (1967)
Director: Terence Young
Writers: Frederick Knott (play), Robert Carrington (screenplay)
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
Genre: Thriller
And this could have been just a run-of-the-mill film if it wasn't for the talented Audrey Hepburn. It's Audrey who makes this far fetched story, very believable. She does that with her 'reaction shots'. She reacts so realistically that it lends credence to what otherwise would have been a long ago forgotten movie.
She makes a very believable blind woman who's recently lost her sight. I like that she wasn't all self determined to do everything for herself. Instead she seemed unsure of herself and would ask for help. Where as in most movies she would have been demanding that people let her do the task all by herself. That seemed believable to me.
So too was the way she held her gaze and her eyes. She sold me on the believe that she was blind, and that's necessary for the movie to work. And her blindness is what ultimately saves her...All of that was well done.
But the real deal maker was Audrey's reaction shots to Alan Arkin. She was terrified and so real in the way she reacted...that then Alan Arkin becomes all the more threatening to us. Much in the same way that Jodie Foster through her reactions makes Silence of the Lambs work.
I haven't read the other write-up of Wait Until Dark, but something tells me tons of praise was heaped on Alan Arkin, and very little on Miss Hepburn. Without Audrey's fine performance the film would fall apart.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Writers: Frederick Knott (play), Robert Carrington (screenplay)
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
Genre: Thriller
"A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment."
This was great fun! I'd seen it before but forgot just how entertaining this was. At the get-go it's interesting and that interest builds and builds until the final climatic scene. Never a dull moment, never a moment wasted.And this could have been just a run-of-the-mill film if it wasn't for the talented Audrey Hepburn. It's Audrey who makes this far fetched story, very believable. She does that with her 'reaction shots'. She reacts so realistically that it lends credence to what otherwise would have been a long ago forgotten movie.
She makes a very believable blind woman who's recently lost her sight. I like that she wasn't all self determined to do everything for herself. Instead she seemed unsure of herself and would ask for help. Where as in most movies she would have been demanding that people let her do the task all by herself. That seemed believable to me.
So too was the way she held her gaze and her eyes. She sold me on the believe that she was blind, and that's necessary for the movie to work. And her blindness is what ultimately saves her...All of that was well done.
But the real deal maker was Audrey's reaction shots to Alan Arkin. She was terrified and so real in the way she reacted...that then Alan Arkin becomes all the more threatening to us. Much in the same way that Jodie Foster through her reactions makes Silence of the Lambs work.
I haven't read the other write-up of Wait Until Dark, but something tells me tons of praise was heaped on Alan Arkin, and very little on Miss Hepburn. Without Audrey's fine performance the film would fall apart.