Barnes & Noble

Few films have been imitated more often than this 1967 thriller, a dazzling tour de force for Oscar-nominated Audrey Hepburn and very likely the best film directed by Terence Young outside the James Bond series. Based on a hit Broadway play by Frederick Knott (who also wrote Dial M for Murder), Wait Until Dark stars Hepburn as Suzy Hendrix, a blind woman trapped in her New York apartment by a psychotic criminal (Alan Arkin) and his accomplices (Richard Crenna and Jack Weston). They believe Hepburn is concealing a doll stuffed with high-grade heroin, which they mean to get by any means necessary. A claustrophobic cat-and-mouse game ensues, with the terrorized Hepburn trying to stay one jump ahead of the crooks until her absent husband (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) returns. She is absolutely terrific in this part, exhibiting fear and vulnerability for much of the film but projecting strength and determination when demonstrations of those qualities serve the plot. In her hands the helpless blind woman isn’t simply a stock melodrama type; she’s a fully developed character that engenders audience sympathy from the get-go. Arkin’s role is actually the flashier one, but his performance also is finely tuned for maximum effectiveness. Young’s directing is expert in every way: The pacing is extremely precise, accelerating at exactly the right moments; the lighting and camera placements perfectly establish mood and capture the limited physical action; and his direction of the actors plays to their individual strengths without sacrificing credibility. A succession of knockoffs, each more lackluster than the last, have eroded Wait Until Dark’s novelty value, but the film’s quality and effectiveness is still readily apparent. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Wait Until Dark is an innovative, highly entertaining and suspenseful thriller about a blind housewife, Susy Hendrix (Audrey Hepburn). Independent and resourceful, Susy is learning to cope with her blindness, which resulted from a recent accident. She is aided by her difficult, slightly unreliable young neighbor Gloria (Julie Herrod) with whom she has an exasperated but lovingly maternal relationship. Susy's life is changed as she is terrorized by a group of criminals who believe she has hidden a baby doll used by them to smuggle heroin into the country. Unknown to Susy, her photographer husband Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) took the doll as a favor for a woman he met on an international plane flight and unwittingly brought the doll to the couple's New York apartment when the woman became afraid of the customs officials. Alone in her apartment and cut-off from the outside world, Susy must fight for her life against a gang of ruthless criminals, led by the violent, psychotic Roat (Alan Arkin). The tension builds as Roat, aided by his gang, impersonates police officers and friends of her husband in order to win Susy's confidence, gaining access to her apartment to look for the doll. The climax of the film, a violent physical confrontation between Susie and Roat in her dark kitchen, is one of the most memorable and frightening scenes in screen history. All performances are outstanding, particularly those of Audrey Hepburn who plays a vulnerable, but self-reliant woman, and Alan Arkin, in perhaps his best role, as the ruthless, manipulative Roat. Linda Rasmussen

Product Details

• UPC: 085392752720
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:48:00
• Sales Rank: 3,893

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