Some of the darker moments in this film reminded me of the 1944 Dick Powell film noir "Murder My Sweet" which in spite of its excellence and classic status had elements that came off as confusing in many ways until everything began to come together. Keeping an audience intrigued to twists and turns that are confusing at first is one thing, but boring them to pieces at other times is not a way to keep the audience intrigued. Maxwell Reed plays a character whose temporary blindness is ending, and what a time his sight chooses to return. He walks right into the location of a murder scene and spends the remainder of the film getting into all sorts of trouble and meeting all sorts of weird people who are incomprehensible to say the least.
This is one film that ends up being destroyed by its attempt to be more intelligent than the audience. You have to be in the right mood to watch a film like this, and I'm not about to put this aside to wait until I feel that I am in that right mood. People only watch movies once for the most part so you have to grab them immediately if they are going to either like it, recommended or keep it and watch it again and again. That is not the case for me with this film which I found pretentious and deceitful to the audience.
There are more twists and curves in 80 minutes in this film then there are on the roads in all of the mountains in California, and when someone says that the pieces are getting ready to fit, I was at the point where I didn't care anymore. It was a struggle to just stay awake and not going to my own blackout. That being said as while I disliked the film intensely, I did admire a camera work and technical aspects of the movie. But that's not enough. I have to comprehend what's going on in a film like this even if I don't instantly understand everything. That wasn't the case here at all. Reed certainly is very handsome, reminding me of a more rugged Dirk Bogarde, but his performance was just dull. Dinah Sheridan tries as well but nothing could straighten out the mess that the direction and script created.
This is one film that ends up being destroyed by its attempt to be more intelligent than the audience. You have to be in the right mood to watch a film like this, and I'm not about to put this aside to wait until I feel that I am in that right mood. People only watch movies once for the most part so you have to grab them immediately if they are going to either like it, recommended or keep it and watch it again and again. That is not the case for me with this film which I found pretentious and deceitful to the audience.
There are more twists and curves in 80 minutes in this film then there are on the roads in all of the mountains in California, and when someone says that the pieces are getting ready to fit, I was at the point where I didn't care anymore. It was a struggle to just stay awake and not going to my own blackout. That being said as while I disliked the film intensely, I did admire a camera work and technical aspects of the movie. But that's not enough. I have to comprehend what's going on in a film like this even if I don't instantly understand everything. That wasn't the case here at all. Reed certainly is very handsome, reminding me of a more rugged Dirk Bogarde, but his performance was just dull. Dinah Sheridan tries as well but nothing could straighten out the mess that the direction and script created.