Wait Until Dark (1967)
Directed by Terence Young

Film Review

One of the most compelling and frightening examples of the psycho-thriller genre, Wait Until Dark is a superlative adaptation of the successful stage play by Frederick Knott, whose earlier play Dial M for Murder had been made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.  It was directed, with great flair, by Terence Young, who had just completed three of the early (and most highly regarded) James Bond films.  The film marks a creative highpoint for Young and is easily one of his greatest achievements, surpassed only by his Bond masterpiece From Russia with Love.

The film effectively recreates the claustrophobic feel of the original play by having virtually all of the action take place in one setting, the victim's cramped basement apartment.  By slowly ratcheting up the tension, Young lures his unsuspecting audience into the nightmare that is experienced by the film's vulnerable heroine, played with harrowing realism by Audrey Hepburn, stunning in what is possibly her best purely dramatic role.  Alan Arkin is equally impressive as the villain of the piece, a leather-clad fiend of the kind that gives knife-wielding demonic psychopaths a bad name.

The last fifteen minutes of Wait Until Dark are among the most terrifying you will find in any film, the suspenseful drama driven to a fever pitch of hysteria and horror by some truly inspired direction and acting.  As, one by one, the lights go out, the audience not only identifies with the blind victim, but becomes the victim, feeling every ounce of her fear and desperation as she fights for her life against a ruthless killer.  Some cinemas heightened the experience by switching off their lights during the unforgettable denouement as Hepburn and Arkin battle it out in their frantic game of cat and mouse.  To get the full impact, you must watch the film alone in a completely darkened room, preferably in the dead of night.  That way, you will be guaranteed a viewing experience you will not forget in a hurry - and a very sleepless night...

Film Synopsis

On his return to New York, photographer Sam Hendrix is met by a woman he has never met before who asks him to take care of an antique doll.  She assures him she will collect it from him later.  Unbeknown to Sam, the woman, Lisa, is in the employ of drugs smugglers, and the doll is stuffed with heroine.  The next day, Lisa's dead body is found in Sam's apartment by a pair of small-time crooks, Mike and Carlino.  The latter have been summoned here by Roat, a ruthless gangster who offers them a large sum of money if they can recover the missing doll.   With Sam away on business, Mike finds it easy to win the confidence of his blind wife Susy.  He explains that a doll which Sam was recently given may connect him with the recent murder of a young woman.  Anxious to save her husband, Susy allows Mike to search her apartment for the doll, but it soon becomes apparent that it is no longer there.  His patience exhausted, Roat disposes of his two employees and decides to tackle Susy himself.  But she is not as helpless as she appears...