The Naked Edge (1961)

hyped garbage

Absolutely Fantastic

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A visually elegant psychological mystery thriller, with stylish direction by Michael Anderson, an intelligent script by Joseph Stefano, and strong performances by two acting legends, Gary Cooper and Deborah Kerr. Some sequences are Hitchcockian (the one at the edge of a cliff in particular), but in its examination of (mutual) trust, doubt, and love, the film may also remind you of Claude Chabrol at his prime. And a great twist to cap it all off. *** out of 4.

There is a stylistic feel to this film, a clever use of dark and light tones and an impressive use of camera angles and close ups which does give more than a nod towards Hitchcock, though perhaps at times it is a little overdone. The story itself is a good one, with a number of clever twists and turns, and the two leads give good solid performances. I did enjoy this film; the sort I felt could bear more than one watching. Unfortunately, the ending is too obviously hurried in its attempt to tie up all the loose ends, and this, for me, is what lets it down.

***** Mild Spoilers Ahead *****"The Naked Edge" is the last film that the famous American actor Gary Cooper was in, wrapping up a career which lasted for over thirty years.In "The Naked Edge", Gary Cooper portrays a business man who has been accused, but acquitted of murder. After the trial, Cooper's character becomes very wealthy through investments in the stock market. His wife(Deborah Kerr) opens a letter which contains blackmail threats against her husband. She begins to suspect that her husband may have truly committed the murder and begins to do some investigating of her own. What she discovers leads her to conclude that he was the murderer. Her husband is aware of her conclusion and it begins to look as if he may kill her too!Deborah Kerr, as usual, delivers a terrific performance. Gary Cooper does his best with the dialogue and the role he is given, but it isn't enough to make this film believable to the discerning viewer. The dialogue between the characters is contrived to leave every situation open to the possibility that Gary Cooper is the murderer. The result is that the film quickly becomes annoying. I felt jerked around as a viewer. The film would have turned out better if the director would have been stabbed instead of the victim in the movie! It's not nice to patronize your audience when you are making a serious mystery or suspense film. It's too bad, because both principal actors, Deborah Kerr and Gary Cooper deserved better. I'm not going to go into how irritating the musical score was in this movie. Let's just say it takes melodramatic background music in a film to new lows.It's a shame I can't give this movie a better review because I so wanted to like it. Thankfully, the superb acting talents of Deborah Kerr and Gary Cooper can be seen in many other great movies which they starred in. Sadly, I rate this movie only a 70/100.

The last film of Gary Cooper is an enjoyable thriller-drama. It's not great cinema, but I was surprised by the pace of it. With most of those "old" films, I have trouble to sit them through. But this one kept my attention from beginning to end.The story is about a man(Cooper) who's a witness to a murder and thanks to whose testimony the killer is locked away. But did this guy really commit the murder? Years later, Cooper's wife(Kerr) starts to suspect her husband. Slowly, everything begins to point in HIS direction. Is she still safe with the man she loves? Will he kill her(too)?As I said, this film is very entertaining. The story however has some major holes in it and the ending is a bit of a let-down. You'll have to see what you make of this film with the ending in mind. This could have been done much better. Cooper is very good in his last role as the husband, but Kerr was less convincing as his wife. There are also some rather colourful, but sometimes annoying supporting roles. I can recommend it, as long as you don't expect to much of it. But if you don't like old films, this is a good movie to help you with that. The filming is very up-to-date. 6/10