The Walking Stick

There may be some people who will object to the core premise of "The Walking Stick" by saying that they've seen the same basic premise in other movies before. I don't object to seeing the same premise again as long as the story is retold professionally and with a fresh light. Indeed, one strength the movie has is that the performances are very good - Eggar and Hemmings manage to make their characters believable. Unfortunately, the script and direction are another matter. The story takes way too much time to get from one major plot turn to another - a lot of fat could have been trimmed before shooting started. Also, the direction for the most part is a little too low key. I'm not asking for a great deal of flashiness, but a little more life should have been put into the movie. I am not saying this is an awful or bad movie, but it is kind of disappointing.

David hemmings, four years after his huge hit blowup. In that one, he was a struggling photographer... in this one, he's a struggling artist. The first half of the film is the progression of leigh and deborah's romance. We hear several time about how much she values honesty and trust. So when leigh starts asking about the security at deborah's workplace, she knows he's up to something. Will she go along with it? It's quite good. In the late 60s and 70s, the studios made tons of films about heists and hijackings. This one is pretty good. Directed by eric till. Till also directed hot millions, one of the best films in the world. Check it out!

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.

Three English movies "obsessed" me all my life and I always wanted to see them and watch them again and again: "The Walking Stick" (1970), "The Collector" (1965) and "Our Mother's House" (1967). And, I've seen and re-seen them many times. And I would see them again with the same great pleasure. All three have something magical. All three have also something tragic, melancholic, they are particularly sad and all three are about love, about the big failure in love. The first two star Samantha Eggar, actually, she is the movies. Her acting is impeccably perfect. She is of a unique beauty, you can't help but fall in love with her. That's what happened to me. This is not actually a review, but an eternal declaration of love, mine to Samantha Eggar. She really convinces you that is a crippled person here, that she has polio. There are two other great actors in the film, David Hemmings and Dudley Sutton. Excellent director Eric Till, excellent music, an exceptional film.

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.