The Naked Edge

George Radcliffe, an American businessman living in London, gave the testimony five years ago that convicted a colleague of murder. Now a blackmail letter arrives for his wife Martha, saying the real killer was her husband. In her own house, she begins to suspect the man she lives with. The film is not interested in solving the murder. It is interested in suspicion growing indoors: it consists almost entirely of a change in the way a woman looks at her husband, and the tension comes out of ordinary gestures. The form carries an obvious Hitchcock influence. The screenplay is by Joseph Stefano, who wrote Psycho; the source is Max Ehrlich's 1955 novel First Train to Babylon. This is Gary Cooper's last film. He died of cancer on 13 May 1961 and the film opened after his death. Deborah Kerr plays opposite him; Michael Anderson directed. Who it is for: viewers who like classical suspense and both leads. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a sharp resolution. The ending is rushed and does not repay the suspicion the film has accumulated.