Faces in the Dark (1964)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

A Brilliant Conflict

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Maybe because of the French writing connection which other reviewers have touched on, what should have been explained to the viewer was how John Gregson was stumbling to a local Cornish village to summon help one minute, then in the next scene he is suddenly in France in a French hospital still driving the his Mark 1X Jaguar.Did "Talking Pictures" on channel 81, cut out a vital scene for commercial break reasons, or did we see this movie in its entirety? Its always a pleasure to see Mai Zetterling on screen.Talking Pictures recently aired "Only Two Can Play" with her & Peter Sellers.I find myself watching channel 81 frequently to see the old movies from the 40s 50s & 60s in preference to the garbage often shown on more mainstream channels.The subject film was made in 1960 and I always check the date from the listing of movies of this vintage, particularly one like this I saw for the first time.Unusually, the producer leaves a lot of unanswered questions to the viewer at the end leaving them to make their own minds up as to the denoument of the characters.

"Faces in the Dark" was based on a novel by Boileau and Narcejac, the same guys who gave us "Vertigo" and "Les Diaboliques". This certainly isn't in the same class but it's still a watchable thriller. John Gregson is the thoroughly unpleasant industrialist blinded in a factory accident on the same day his wife is planning to divorce him. She's Mai Zetterling and she's somewhat better than the material. Others involved include Michael Denison, John Ireland and Tony Wright. It's a good looking picture, (Ken Hodges photographed in widescreen and future director Desmond Davis was a camera operator), and Mikis Theodorakis did the score but the director, David Eady, doesn't muster any real suspense and it is fairly predictable.

Discussing French Film Noir with the very generous IMDber dbdumonteil,I asked about adaptations of novelists Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac,due to the three that I've seen (Eyes Without A Face,Vertigo and Diabolique) being absolute classics. Catching me by surprise, dbdumonteil told me about a British Film Noir adaptation. Gathering up titles for my birthday viewing,I was thrilled to find it on Ebay £2.50!,which led to me unmasking the faces in the dark.The plot:Completely absorbed in his work, businessmen Richard Hammond puts his eyes on inventing a new light-bulb in his factory. Trying out a prototype, Hammond gets caught in an explosion which permanently blinds him. Fearing that he might go mad,Hammond is told by the Dr that he must trust his long suffering wife Christiane and "loyal" friend/co-worker David Merton to take care of him. Returning to his country home, Hammond is horrified to find himself constantly needing to be "corrected" by Christiane that things have not been moved around in the house. Standing outside,light begins to enter Hammond's blind vision when he smells pine trees,despite no pine trees having ever been near his house.View on the film:Unmasking this near-forgotten title, Renown present a sparkling transfer,with the dialogue and Mikis Theodorakis's off-beat wah-wah score being clear,and there only being a few specs of dirt on the images of the dark.Ridding Hammond of his sight in the first 5 minutes (!) of this Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac adaptation,the screenplay by Ephraim Kogan & John Tully cuts a lean and mean British Film Noir. Changing sight of the original novel limiting the pov to the darkness of Hammond's mind,the writers brilliantly retain the isolation Noir spirit,with sharp-tooth inner monologues bringing to light the mad darkness Hammond is trapped in,and the echoes of doubt he now has of those out of sight. Playfully nodding to the French to English transfer,the writers hit a fantastic ambiguous note for Hammond's friends and family, shining in the clipped exchanges Christine has with her husband,which carry (some) element of care with a decayed frustration over Hammond's blindness to other points of view.Spraying the dark mist of the original novel across the screen,director David Eady and cinematographer Ken Hodges turn Hammond's upper-crust country house into a Noir maze,via ever winding ultra-stylish shadows guarding Hammond from seeing the darkest events taking place. Largely staying away from any Gothic "monster" lighting for Hammond, Eady looks into his burnt eyes with coiled close-ups stabbing the pompous outlook he had on life,with a new Noir loner grasp from Hammond to catch an eyeful of the true feelings of those around him. Joined by an elegant, thoughtful Mai Zetterling as Christiane, John Gregson gives a fantastic performance as Hammond,thanks to Gregson punching Hammond's narrow bitterness with a gradual Film Noir fear of lies coming from the faces in the dark.

FACES IN THE DARK is one of those intriguing, long-forgotten little British thrillers of the early '60s. It's an essential three-hander in which the unlikeable John Gregson plays an industry boss who ends up getting blinded in a freak factory accident. He's forced to recuperate, being looked after by his wife Mai Zetterling and second-in-command John Ireland, but soon becomes convinced that everything isn't as it should be.This is a film that makes the very best of a low budget thanks to a unique-feeling storyline and plenty of suspense that builds up, particularly in the second half. The first half is a little slow and stately, but as a mystery this throws clues at you every now and then before finally letting rip towards the climax with an excellent twist. From that point in it never disappoints, right up until the arresting climax. FACES IN THE DARK certainly holds its own against bigger budget fare in this viewer's opinion.