Wait Until Dark

I am buying this movie as a gift to a friend who likes it as much as me! If you like retro 60's, a great story line with good acting and of course...a thriller, this is for you!! Being an Audrey fan helps a little too! Highly recommended!!!

As the title indicates, my mother-in-law highly recommended this movie, so my wife and I gave it a try. It's a mystery with one unpredictable turn after another. Starring Audrey Hepburn as the sweet, blind but intelligent and crafty Suzie Hendrix; Richard Crenna as the reluctant con artist/thief; and Alan Arkin as the sinister master of disguise Harry Roate.

The progression of the film reminds me of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film ROPE (starring Jimmy Stewart). The climactic plot twist reminded me most of M. Night Shyamalan's first three popular films (back when he made good movies). The acting is pretty good, but not what I would call Oscar-worthy (with sincere apologies to Audrey Hepburn fans). But you forget about all that when you get caught up, and eventually, totally lost in the characters and the inevitable problematic scenarios in which they find themselves.

We heartily enjoyed it and would watch it again.

The thrills of "Wait Until Dark" have diminished somewhat through the years. The thriller, released in late 1967, is still impressive for Audrey Hepburn's Oscar nominated performance as Suzy Hendricks, a blind woman terrorized in her apartment by a trio of thugs searching for a child's doll stuffed with heroin, as well as for Alan Arkin's snake-like Mr. Roat, the leader of the termites. But the nightmare she experiences could have been avoided if she had simply locked the door and called the police. When watching it recently, I kept asking myself, "Why doesn't she lock the door and call the police?"

Did Frederick Knott, the author of the play on which the film was based, ask that question when writing it?

Did Fred Coe, who staged the original Broadway production, ask that question before or during the show's run?

Did Mel Ferrer, who optioned the film rights when the play was still in galley form, question the character's lack of common sense in this matter while showing such courage and intelligence otherwise?

Did Audrey Hepburn, then married to Ferrer, wonder why her character never simply bolted the door to prevent the intrusion?

When viewing the film at a private screening, did Jack L. Warner ever question the implausible scenario?

Somehow or other, it still works, though less effectively than it did when I was an 11-year-old watching the creepy goings on while munching popcorn, licking my buttered fingers, and sipping a then reasonably priced Coca-Cola.

Despite the claustrophobic setting, the film avoids appearing like a filmed play. Much of the credit for that probably belongs to Terence Young, whose greatest claim to fame was, and remains, as director of three of the first four James Bond movies ("Dr. No," "From Russia With Love," and "Thunderball"). Accustomed to, and proficient at, action and adventure, he keeps the film moving.

Brian W. Fairbanks

She is one of the few actors/actresses who portray a realistic blind person. If Al Pacino saw this movie, he could had played a better character in "Scent of a Woman".

The plot/story of this movie is even better. A blind woman defending herself alone against three hoods, where one of them, slowing becomes a highly strung psychopath. This movie has elements of the real world: living with blindness, drug trafficing, the relationships between sight and non-sighted people, how a bad person can have a conscience, and death.

This movie is what I called a mordern suspense, crime, thriller of the 1960s'. This is the movie Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar.

Wait Until DarkMy wife appreciated this DVD as a valued favourite addition to her library.