William Irish aka Cornell Woolrich was one of the best writers in the thriller field,called the twentieth century Edgar Poe , he shared with the latter an obsession with the premature burial .A closeted homosexual,he spent all his miserable life in a hotel room,and his denouements are sometimes distraught ; such is not the case in this tale ,neither the movie nor the short story.
The role of the whistler is totally pointless , Irish's plots do not need voice over ....
That said ,the first part is closer to "I married a dead man " (which spawned a good movie starring Barbara Stanwyck ) than to "all at once,no Alice " but does not suffer for it (one can wonder why Alice ,who ,unlike in the book ,is supposed to be French ,has no accent and barely utters three words in her first language though ); the role of the detective is slightly different but it adds sudden new developments,probably the best thing of the adaptation.
Things begin to deteriorate in the second part : Irish is thoroughly betrayed ; this umpteeenth story of insane asylum was written by screenwriters who seem to be afraid of the horror depicted by the writer: the hero and the detective,gagged and bound in a cellar, hearing noises which scare them to death : in the room above them , there's a funeral ceremony , Alice is still alive as they nail the coffin ;this obsession in Irish 's work emerges again in other short stories such as "graves for the living"."then a sharp hammering on wood penetrated to where we were and nearly drove me crazy ;they were fastening down the lid"(W. I.)
That said ,it's not a bad thriller ,but do read Irish's "at once, no Alice"!
The role of the whistler is totally pointless , Irish's plots do not need voice over ....
That said ,the first part is closer to "I married a dead man " (which spawned a good movie starring Barbara Stanwyck ) than to "all at once,no Alice " but does not suffer for it (one can wonder why Alice ,who ,unlike in the book ,is supposed to be French ,has no accent and barely utters three words in her first language though ); the role of the detective is slightly different but it adds sudden new developments,probably the best thing of the adaptation.
Things begin to deteriorate in the second part : Irish is thoroughly betrayed ; this umpteeenth story of insane asylum was written by screenwriters who seem to be afraid of the horror depicted by the writer: the hero and the detective,gagged and bound in a cellar, hearing noises which scare them to death : in the room above them , there's a funeral ceremony , Alice is still alive as they nail the coffin ;this obsession in Irish 's work emerges again in other short stories such as "graves for the living"."then a sharp hammering on wood penetrated to where we were and nearly drove me crazy ;they were fastening down the lid"(W. I.)
That said ,it's not a bad thriller ,but do read Irish's "at once, no Alice"!