Faces in the Dark

Richard Hammond is injured badly in an accident at the company he owns. He is blinded and disfigured and isn't adapting to this well at all. He seems angry, on edge and is not a particularly noble blind man. So, it's easy not to like the man. However, over time you start to wonder if perhaps SOME of his anger is because something else is going on...something or someone is manipulating him...and what he seems to experience isn't exactly real...at least not what they tell him it is. What REALLY is going on here?!

This movie is unusual because an American actor, John Ireland is in it BUT doesn't play a very significant part. Now a lot of American actors went to Europe to make films during the 1950s and 60s....but they always starred in the films. This time, it seemed more like he was just working a day or two and that's all.

So is it any good? Generally yes...though the very end is a tad sloppy. You really have a hard time imagining the wife meeting her fate the way she did...it just seemed HIGHLY unlikely. Some might also dislike how vague parts of the ending is as well. Still, it is different...and I love different.

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.

FACES IN THE DARK is a rather forgotten film in the British noir genre. The movie is a bit slow but totally worth hanging in there - the TWIST is quite staggering & very well done (no surprise it is based on a book by the writing team that also wrote the novels that VERTIGO, LES DIABOLIQUES and EYES WITHOUT A FACE were based on). John Gregson is very good as the rich successful man who is blinded in an industry accident. He is angry at the world with his fate and slowly begins to worry that he is losing his mind. Is he just paranoid or is his "loving" wife too good to be true? I watched this with a few friends and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

The "roman de la victime" ("victim novel") pioneered by the writing team of Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac - lovingly detailing the cruel gaslighting by others of a vulnerable victim - after providing the raw material for 'Les Diaboliques' and 'Vertigo' inspired many imitations during the early sixties, particularly by Hammer Films; although 'Faces in the Dark' is one of the few direct adaptations of their work. Had this been adapted for Hammer by Jimmy Sangster (who had been regularly providing them with 'psychological' scripts commencing with 'The Snorkel' in 1958) the result would probably have been much scarier.

Like most black & white features of the early 60's it looks good. But despite the occasionally gothic lighting, strange camera angles, the menacing presence of Mai Zetterling (who always looks guilty of something) and a cool title sequence aided by an eerie ondes Martenot score by Mikis Theodorakis it becomes very plodding and garrulous (although the ending is satisfactorily grim).

A similar subject concerning a blind patriarch made a much better film a few years earlier called 'Silent Dust' (1949). Catch that if you get the chance.

I finally got to watch this film on a scratchy DVD from a VHS copy bought off ebay- so the sound quality was muted at times, but i've tried to see it for years and failed. It is a good taut little thriller, on a moderate budget but well acted (everyone is suitably mysterious and two-faced) though John Gregson had to work very hard to convince as the tough, unpleasant workaholic boss (he just looks too affable). His dilemma, after an accident blinds him, gave me a few empathetic shivers and that dilemma is what kept my attention right through to the unexpected ending. There are some genuinely creepy moments,and an initially unsympathetic main character makes headway in conjuring our sympathy.

Enjoyable and should be better known.