An excellent follow-up for Kevin McCarthy ,after Siegel's masterpiece "invasion of the body snatchers ",one of the ten best sci-fi movies ever made ,without the special effects which mar so many modern movies today.
A very expressive actor (his portrayal of Biff in Arthur Miller 's "death of a saleman is at least as good as Malkovich 's in the color version ) ,McCarthy was never given the part he deserved and was often relegated to supporting roles .
Cornell Woolrich's aka William Irish's is the novel of the victim ;it's generally a heroine lost in a nightmarish world ("no man of her own" ; "the night has a thousand eyes") ; here it's a hero subjected to the same ordeal ;Irish's film noir is the tragedy of the lost character alone to fight a hostile world : violence kept to the minimum , no gangsters and no femme fatale :Irish's women try to save their men ("black angel " )
And in "nightmare " McCarthy tries to save his reason and his skin ; in a nightmare, he committed a crime , and when he awoke ,he realized all that happened in a dream might be true .The house which provides a shelter during the storm may pass for a plot hole,but this deja vu feeling is justified when you know the truth.
It recalls the thrillers of the forties such as "spellbound " , "secret beyond the door" "woman in the window" and mainly " whirlpool" .But the atmosphere is unnerving , the playing excellent (McCarthy as a desperate man on the verge of suicide and Edward G.Robinson as the detective brother-in-law who only sides with his relative after he attempts suicide.) Fine direction and suspenseful till the last pictures ; the jazzy songs are not filler but fit in the threatening atmosphere.
A very expressive actor (his portrayal of Biff in Arthur Miller 's "death of a saleman is at least as good as Malkovich 's in the color version ) ,McCarthy was never given the part he deserved and was often relegated to supporting roles .
Cornell Woolrich's aka William Irish's is the novel of the victim ;it's generally a heroine lost in a nightmarish world ("no man of her own" ; "the night has a thousand eyes") ; here it's a hero subjected to the same ordeal ;Irish's film noir is the tragedy of the lost character alone to fight a hostile world : violence kept to the minimum , no gangsters and no femme fatale :Irish's women try to save their men ("black angel " )
And in "nightmare " McCarthy tries to save his reason and his skin ; in a nightmare, he committed a crime , and when he awoke ,he realized all that happened in a dream might be true .The house which provides a shelter during the storm may pass for a plot hole,but this deja vu feeling is justified when you know the truth.
It recalls the thrillers of the forties such as "spellbound " , "secret beyond the door" "woman in the window" and mainly " whirlpool" .But the atmosphere is unnerving , the playing excellent (McCarthy as a desperate man on the verge of suicide and Edward G.Robinson as the detective brother-in-law who only sides with his relative after he attempts suicide.) Fine direction and suspenseful till the last pictures ; the jazzy songs are not filler but fit in the threatening atmosphere.