Moment to Moment

For avid fans of Alfred Hitchcock's style of suspense, MOMENT TO MOMENT will fill the bill nicely--especially since it's lavishly photographed among some beautiful French Riviera surroundings and extremely well played by JEAN SEBERG (at her most radiant) and has HONOR BLACKMAN in an enjoyably campy role as her best friend and neighbor.

Seems that Jean is a bored housewife who drifts into a tender affair with a hunky sailor (SEAN GARRISON, whose career seemed to go nowhere except to TV roles), and when she kills him during an explosive argument she gets help from her neighbor to bury the body in a nearby ravine. From then on, it's a cat-and-mouse game with the French authorities that keeps the audience guessing right up until the finale.

Under Mervyn LeRoy's direction, this is a little slow-moving when it should have been more taut with suspense. Still, it's so attractively filmed and performed, and accompanied by an attractive Henry Mancini score, that it's recommended viewing for any fan of this sort of suspenseful romance.

I saw this movie 30 years ago and have been very anxious for it to come out on video. The plot is intriguing and wonderful. It is a story about a neglected wife who would behave as most bored wives would and have an affair and wind up in trouble. But the beautiful heart touching music by Henry Mancini sets this movie apart as a precious jewel.

Second viewing after a 50 year gap. Still love it as a Hitchcock-like thriller. A film to remember for Jean Seberg's screen presence. And whatever happened to that handsome actor, Sean Garrison--he carried the film with his presence. Henry Mancini's score was lovely, too. And Honor Blackman is wonderful, too. The only unbelievable part of the film--that a school kid cannot recall a face he saw a few days ago. A great thriller--little else.

First time I saw this movie, I was in my early twenties and of course in a pretty romantic stage. I ran into it again on TV once back in the 1980's & I found it was equally enjoyable. It is a movie, which has the romance & suspense in a perfect rapport. People may think the acting lacks depth and the story is out of date. However, what do they matter if the story is wonderfully played out and the feeling of the characters is believable? I may not be as naive and romantic as before, but, every time I hear Henry Mancini's "moment to moment", the beauty of Jean Seberg's profile & French Riviera comes out of my memory and henceforth the story. The love, forgiveness & understanding among all the characters make me think that the world I'm leaving in is a beautiful place.

This is a good movie in the Hitchcock vein, in which small details form the key to intense pathos. Will the husband notice the thing she mentioned in passing? Will her child inadvertently play with the wrong toy? Will the best friend keep the story straight? It takes a tangled web of lies and omissions to keep silent an impulsive affair--and a possible murder--when everything is so interconnected. No real villains here, but faulted humans trying to be happy, and not upset the house of cards that comprise their private lives. Good performances by Honor Blackman and Jean Seberg. You will be on the edge of your seat, and clutching a hankie at the same time. Great retro-fun when it comes out on DVD!