El precio de amar

David Hemmings was THE Icon of Swinging 1960's London following his performance in 'Blow Up'. Here he plays Leigh, a slightly sinister seedy artist in 1969/ 70's London, who picks up Deborah (a very beautiful Samantha Eggar) at a fashionable party in Hampstead.

Leigh is a sordid betrayer and crook who may be only using Deborah to gain access to the auction house she works in. When she realises this, Deborah proves to be capable of dealing with the problem and her walking stick, far from eliciting sympathy for her minor disability, proves to be a prop for her strengths.

It is a good example of British Cinema. A strong storyline, originally by author Winston Graham, is moved along by well lit, deep technical images of a London that has in the case of the West India Dock sequences disappeared. And unlike modern films it is not afraid of silence. The music is sparse and appropriate (check out the guitar solo. Isn't it familiar?).

This is a film to buy and watch when the alternative on a wet Bank Holiday is endless 'Carry-On' or Sitcom spin-off films being shown back-to-back on TV.

Based on a Winston Graham novel, (he of "Marnie" fame), Eric Till's "The Walking Stick" is, perhaps surprisingly, a good psychological thriller that came and went without too many people seeing it. Okay, Till was no Hitchcock, (this was only his second feature after the excellent, and again little-seen and underrated, "Hot Millions"), and the film does suffer from a little too much soft-focus prettiness at times but he does make great use of his London locations, draws first-rate performances from leads David Hemmings and Samantha Eggar and ensures the thriller plot builds to a reasonably satisfactory climax.

Eggar is the girl whose early polio means she has to use the walking stick of the title and Hemmings is the not particularly good painter she meets at a party. They start a romance but then she begins to suspect he may not be all that he first seemed. Others caught up in proceedings include Emlyn Williams as Hemmings' shady 'patron' and Phyllis Calvert as Eggar's somewhat aloof mother. It's certainly no classic but it is also much better than its original reputation might have suggested and is worth seeking out.

The first thing I noticed was the music, the very same as in DEER HUNTER, of course the composer is the very same. Second, is that Samantha Eggar and David Hemmings are totally, entirely in their place in this movie which seemed to have been made for them. Samantha Eggar had more or less the same kind of character in THE COLLECTOR, where she had to co star Terry Stamp, remember? Of course it was a total different story, but the same kind of poor naive and victim female. So, this crime romance drama is pretty cute, very British indeed, and convincing acting helps much to keep you glued to it. Could have been far far worse.

A very beatiful low key film about a woman and a man meeting and getting to know one another little by little. Underneath, things are not what they appear to be...

In "Walking Stick" Samantha Eggar and David Hemmings give very fine and clear performances as unseeming Londoners. The actors were very hot and coveted starlets at the end of the sixties, starring in loads of ambitious films and then later never to be heard from again... Shame really, they´re brilliant.

Pretty but man-shy art-appraiser in London, alienated from the opposite sex due to one leg affected by childhood polio, is courted by a struggling artist and falls in love; soon after moving in with him, however, he demands her help in a burglary, leaving her unsure whether he ever loved her or perhaps was simply using her. Flawlessly acted, rather brilliantly assembled adaptation of Winston Graham's book is a bit slow, yet incredibly assured. Director Eric Till shows a deft touch in weaving sequences together, keeping a fluid pace, and he's helped by wonderful editing and cinematography. The film examines deeply the issues of trust and love...and the consequences of those emotions when they are blind to reality. A real sleeper, with Samantha Eggar giving one of her finest performances. *** from ****