The British crime melodrama WALK A TIGHTROPE (1963) will be released on Blu-ray next week by
Kino Lorber.
Patricia Owens plays Ellen Sheppherd, an American living in London, where she's happily married to Jason (Terence Cooper), a businessman.
One afternoon a grizzled older American, Carl (Dan Duryea), bursts in to their home and abruptly guns down Jason at point-blank range.
Jason's friend Doug (Richard Leech), who had been upstairs at the time of the killing, runs into the room and Carl knocks him out, but Doug is alert enough for a time to hear Carl tell Ellen that she owes him money for the killing.
Ellen insists to Doug she has no idea what the deranged killer was talking about, and with Doug's encouragement, she arranges to meet Carl when he phones wanting his money. The police then move in to arrest him.
Trial then over and conviction secured, that would seem to be the end of the story, with Ellen facing rebuilding her life. But wait, there's more...
The plot of this short 69-minute film is more interesting than its actual execution. Owens (THE LAW AND JAKE WADE) is not particularly appealing here, shifting from hysteria to what I can only describe as weirdness.
Viewers never really understand Ellen or what she's thinking; while there are perhaps some plot-related reasons for that, Owens' performance is unfortunately fairly "one note" and uninteresting. (Side note: What on earth was on her head during the courtroom scene? It looks like an upside-down wastebasket.)
Duryea is always great to watch, but while he gives his role everything he's got, his character is left insisting over and over that Ellen paid him to kill her beloved husband.
There's simply not enough in the script, written by Mann Rubin and the uncredited Neil McCallum, to sustain interest in either of the two lead characters. Moreover, Leech as the late husband's friend doesn't have a great deal to do either.
The movie's finale, which will not be disclosed here, is intriguing, but it's not enough to save the film, though admittedly it might make things more interesting on a second viewing.
The bare bones of a good film are here, but the movie needed a better script and more interesting characterizations. Part of the problem seems to be the filmmakers didn't want to telegraph the full story in advance, but that leaves viewers with bland performances, with no nuances or foreshadowing.
WALK A TIGHTROPE was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by
Frank Nesbitt and filmed in black and white by
Basil Emmott. There are a handful of London locations, which I appreciated.
Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. It's a sharp-looking widescreen print.
Blu-ray extras consist of a commentary track by Gary Gerani plus five trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.
Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.
