Wait Until Dark (1967)

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Frederick Knott (play)
Robert Carrington (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 October 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

A blind woman plays a deadly game of survival

Plot:

A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.

Plot Keywords:

Doll | Apartment | Blind | Police | Blindness

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Audrey Hepburn	...	Susy Hendrix
Alan Arkin	...	Roat / Roat Jr. / Roat Sr.
Richard Crenna	...	Mike Talman
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.	...	Sam Hendrix
Jack Weston	...	Carlino
Samantha Jones	...	Lisa
Julie Herrod	...	Gloria

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Australia:M | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Canada:14A (video rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #21531) | New Zealand:M | West Germany:18 (nf) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1968) | Sweden:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

4 St. Luke's Place, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Audrey Hepburn's film residence is at 4 St. Luke's Place in Manhattan.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Gloria throws the kitchen appliances on the floor, the items are in different places between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lisa: Come on Louis, come on!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Penny Dreadful (2005)

Soundtrack:

Wait Until Dark

Great thriller, great acting, great music, great directing.

My title sums it all. I was very surprised at how good this film was. I found it very similar to a movie like "Rear Window". One other person's comments was titled "The best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made". It think that is very true. Most of the film is shot within this basement apartment unit. And the thriller is so great because of Hepburn being blind and these three bad guys freely walking into her unit and introducing themselves as her husband's friends, or police, or some neighbour. But they all forget one thing: She uses her ears like no regular person does, she doesn't need eyes. But that is where the thriller kicks in. Sometimes it is pretty painful for us to watch (us who can see) because she seems so vulnerable. Wrapping around of all this is Henry Mancini's music. He is using a technique that he also used in the film "Night Visitor" where there is this melody on the keyboard and after everynote there is the detuned note following it. Pretty cool effect. One thing I didn't get though, There is a scene where the room looks pretty dark and Alan Arkin still has his sun glasses on. I loved this film, 10 out of 10.