Wait till it's dark

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Movie
German title Wait till it's dark
Original title Wait Until Dark
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1967
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 18 (originally) / 12
Rod
Director Terence Young
script Robert Carrington
production Mel Ferrer
music Henry Mancini
camera Charles Lang
cut Gene Milford
occupation

Wait Until Dark (Wait Until Dark) is an American thriller from the year 1967 . Directed by Terence Young , the screenplay was written by Robert Carrington based on the play Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott .

action

Susy Hendrix lives with her husband, the photographer Sam, in an apartment in New York. Susy, who recently lost her sight in an accident, is currently being supported and instructed by Sam in managing her everyday life independently. Even if it is difficult for her, she tries very hard and wants to prove to her husband that she can manage to cope with her handicap. The young Gloria, who also lives in the house, helps her occasionally.

One day Sam brings back a doll from a trip abroad that a woman has given him into his care. When the woman later wants to pick up the doll, it can no longer be found. The next day the woman is murdered.

Three sinister characters, led by the menacing Harry Roat, lure the unsuspecting Sam out of the apartment and pay Susy a visit. They play for her in order to get to the doll filled with heroin , believing that they would have an easy time with the delicate and blind woman. But Susy gradually finds out about them. It wasn't until late that it was discovered that Gloria had taken the doll. She brings them back and Susy hides them in a trash can. She sends Gloria to inform the police.

Since Susy can no longer escape, she has to engage in a fight with the psychopath Roat, who has previously murdered his two cronies - the duel of a brutal thug against an intelligent blind woman in a confined space. Susy smashes all the lights in her apartment, because in the dark she thinks she is superior to her opponent. At first she seems to have an advantage, but then Roat comes up with the idea of ​​opening the refrigerator door. When he approaches her in the now slightly lighted room, she rams a knife into his ribs. She tries to escape from the apartment, but finds that her tormentor has locked the door with a chain. When she tries to get to the window, the person believed dead suddenly attacks her again. But she can tear herself away and tries desperately to close the refrigerator again, but Roat has stuck a towel in the door. With the last of his strength, he crawls towards her seriously injured with the knife. He collapses right in front of her. Moments later, Susy's husband rushed into the apartment with Gloria and a policeman. He finds his brave wife hidden behind the refrigerator.

Reviews

Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times on October 27, 1967 that the viewer needed patience until the tension came to an end after the "torturously slow" build-up of tension. Audrey Hepburn plays her “poignant” role with grace that secures her sympathy. In the final scenes she shows "sincere firmness" . Alan Arkin sometimes looks like he's imitating Jerry Lewis .

The magazine prisma found the film to be a "highly exciting crime thriller that has long been one of the classics" . It achieves its effect through "the great cast of two charmingly contradicting characters" who are played by the "seemingly vulnerable" Hepburn and von Arkin.

Lexicon of international film : "After a stage play, a routinely and excitingly designed thriller that lives from its atmospheric density and the good leading actress."

The Evangelical Film Watcher also said positively: "Exciting and logically structured crime film of the special class, which can be recommended to lovers of the genre."

The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the rating “valuable”.

Awards

Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1968 , but lost out to Katharine Hepburn ( guess who's going to eat ) . Audrey Hepburn and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. were each nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1968 . Hepburn came third in the 1968 Laurel Award competition , and the film came fifth in the Drama category.

backgrounds

The film was shot in New York , Montreal and the Warner Brothers Burbank Studios in Burbank . Production costs were 4 million US dollars estimated. The film grossed approximately $ 11 million in US theaters.

The author of the play "Wait until dark" (template for this film) also wrote the play " Dial M for Murder ", which was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Alan Arkin was a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, so he didn't have the heart to attack his film partner on set. Even the thought of just frightening her seemed too brutal to him.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for wait until it is dark . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2007 (PDF; test number: 38 425 DVD).
  2. Bosley Crowther's review, accessed September 14, 2007
  3. prisma, accessed September 14, 2007
  4. Wait until it's dark. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 4, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 73/1968.
  6. ^ Filming locations for Wait Until Dark, accessed September 14, 2007
  7. Box office / business for Wait Until Dark, accessed September 14, 2007
  8. www.allocine.fr