Synopsis
ONLY THE MAN WHO WROTE PSYCHO COULD JOLT YOU LIKE THIS!
Five years after George Radcliffe was the chief witness in a high profile murder case, his wife receives a blackmailing letter accusing him of the crime.
1961 Directed by Michael Anderson
Five years after George Radcliffe was the chief witness in a high profile murder case, his wife receives a blackmailing letter accusing him of the crime.
Ein Mann geht seinen Weg, Sombras de sospecha, La Lame nue, Il dubbio, A Tortura da Suspeita, 天网记
as the self proclaimed least experienced person in the world when it comes to noir, somehow even then this film feels like ive seen it before even though I'd never heard of it approximately 2 hours ago, however that's not really a bad thing at all. where it lacks in the utter richness of Hitchcock's dripping suspense, it makes up for in sheer melodramatic camp. compositions submerged into the dark empty alley of shadowy figures, the score never calming down to creep alongside the brewing tension underneath and instead always blaring frenzily like the panicked POV shots. and yet for its unremarkably imitative body, it has some moments of actual vulnerability and emotion as Deborah Kerr pours out with the…
"Does it make you want to be sick?"
i didnt mind the predictable plot because theres a lot to love here... biting dialogue, evocative b&w cinematography, surprising frankness in conversations around sex and suicide, and an absolutely unhinged performance from eric portman, even if he doesnt get the screentime he deserves (as is so often the case with him </3). deborah kerr is lovely as usual and although gary cooper's performance is lukewarm at best i can forgive it due to his condition at the time of filming.
also, ive seen people compare this to hitchcock but they're forgetting that this does something hitchcock could never do: have a gay character who isnt evil!
Do you think a woman could live with a man and sleep with him and not know she was sleeping with a murderer?
Do murderers make love differently?
A fun, flamboyantly melodramatic thriller from the 'is my husband trying to kill me?' genre – Deborah Kerr menaced by looming architecture, low camera angles and long shadows; the domestic interior turned nightmarish and hostile. I loved how dark her devotion to Gary Cooper is allowed to go, choosing him again and again even as she becomes convinced he's a killer, her shaky, self-conscious repression a choice.
The script is a little rote, but the film's cinematography makes up for it: extreme closeups, memory as a camera negative, shots through water, through mirrors. The camera sweeping behind obstacles, its frame becoming segmented and bisected. I particularly liked the grotesque, quasi-maniacal horror framing in the final act.
(Gary Cooper birthday watch)
An excellent thriller. My only complaint is the way Deborah Kerr portrays the wife at the beginning. So many wives in these films are portrayed this way.
I accidentally started watching The Naked Kiss instead. Now that beginning has a woman with a spine.
Michael Anderson’s thriller. Half-a-decade after a man (Gary Cooper) was the main witness in a killing, his wife (Deborah Kerr) gets a letter suspecting him of the crime.
The Naked Edge – which is rated 15 by the British Board of Film Classification (because it contains references to suicide) – is most notable for being the final film to star the actor Gary Cooper – and the final product is a decent one.
When a man is killed and a huge amount of cash vanishes from an office, Donald Heath (Ray McAnally) is found guilty of the corruption based on the evidence of his co-worker, George Radcliffe (Gary Cooper).
George’s wife, Martha (Deborah Kerr), begins to become suspicious of her…
One of a number of tabloidy British thrillers at this time - most notably Bunny Lake is Missing, even Victim - which fell betwixt and between technical sensibilities of 20-years earlier - Hillier’s lighting and Dillon’s staging (both excellent) - and pepperings of blunter dialogue or schisms of violence to get a quick reaction.
Its better moments are resolutely with the past: the repeat attack on Kerr’s twinset-and-pearls; another disreputable role for Portman in his splendid bookshop; Gingold in a tipsy time of her own. The occasionally saltier dialogue sitting uneasily in these mouths.
It’s not dissimilar to the Italian pulp of giallo fiction with a stylish sheen across the rote mechanics, although no-one disgraces themselves.
A rather standard suspense film of its time and highly predictable. One of those "woman suspects her husband of murder" deals. Gary Cooper understandably gives a pretty sleepy performance, seeing as he was dying from cancer and would never make another film. Deborah Kerr is fine as his wife but not much is required of her other than paranoia, so it gets to be rather one-note. Once you've got it well figured out, it seems to go on for another half hour and gets tedious. It certainly will never be considered a top-notch film but it works for passing the time.
"The Naked Edge" is a thriller that would serve as classic Hollywood icon Gary Cooper's final film as he was dying of cancer during the shooting. He would pass away before the film was released, to largely poor reviews and worse box office. By playing so close to the territory Hitchcock had mastered at this point, it can't help but feel inferior but it's far from a bad movie. You can't say the movies boring, the pacing is fast and furious. It's a fairly stylish affair as well with the moody opening POV flashback being a highlight. Lacks the sense of humor that made Hitchcock so appealing and the story is far too predictable.
This was adapted from a novel…
deborah kerr gave a cameron diaz look alike some money but she refused it honey your career is dying!!
HOW DO YOU MAKE A MOVIE STARRING DEBORAH KERR AND GARY COOPER WHERE A WIFE SUSPECTS HER HUSBAND OF MURDER SO. FUCKING. DULL. HOW AND WHY.
(deborah kerr took a bath tho)
'Blackmailers have a terrible edge. Whatever they say everybody believes it just a little bit..' (Gary Cooper as George Radcliffe)
A poignant moment in cinema history as a visibly ailing Cooper takes his last bow on the cinema screen in a gripping Anglo-American thriller scripted by Psycho screenplay writer Joseph Stefano; a picture that is nowhere near in the same class as Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece from the previous year but nevertheless a very satisfying movie in itself and a fitting parting shot from one of the great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age.
Deborah Kerr adds another 'top drawer' leading man to her list of onscreen partners - that gal worked with everyone! - with her portrayal of Coop's wife, a…