Customer Reviews

Wait Until Dark

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Great movie at an amazing price!
A little slow in coming to me, but that is all down to the postal strike not the seller.
Thank you!

I have been searching everywhere to get a copy of Wait Until Dark. It is a good movie, a good thriller, and a good scare.

I had recently ordered this movie from Amazon, and believe me, it was well-worth the over two-week wait!

I had heard so much about it, and I was really impressed with Audrey as far as acting is concerned. She wasn't afraid to 'let loose' so to speak. Aside from her acting, this movie lives up to the hype! It might take a couple watches to really get you to understand the doll predicament, but you can still enjoy the movie regardless of that. You will watch this movie with your face glued to the screen, your heart in your mouth, and you might want to leave the lights on!

The only thing I wasn't impressed about, that doesn't have to do with the film itself is the box it comes in. I'm not fond of the cardboard ones. But, that doesn't really matter.

Based on Frederick Knott's Broadway hit, Wait Until Dark is a chilling film, even by today's standards. This is a masterfully crafted thriller about three deranged crooks who manipulate a blind woman to recover their lost smuggled goods.

Audrey Hepburn is fantastic as Suzy, in her Oscar nominated role, showing us a fairly realistic portrait of a fragile woman coping with her dark new world. She manages to garner our sympathy, especially with Efrem Zimbalist Jr's demanding husband watching her every move.

Alan Arkin is equally terrific, making a terrifying villain.

Wait Until Dark manages to create a paranoid environment devoid of any human life. The apartment building Suzy lives in is perpetually empty; Suzy's husband, Sam, leaves her on her own for most of the day, and the dorky young girl upstairs is apparently motherless most of the time. The cave-like arches of the apartment has an unsettling effect of positioning Hepburn in a nondescript underground (the windows only look out on the feet of passersby, emphasizing Suzy's disconnect from her neighborhood). It all creeps up on the audience, making for a suspenseful, claustrophobic and effective shocker. I literally could not breathe during the film's final ten minutes.

Definitely wait until dark and watch it with someone who likes to scream. This is a true nail-biter if there ever was one.

...and then the knife whistling past her ear. . . "

At the ripe old age of 38, Audrey Hepburn proved that she had aged like fine wine in Terrence Young's "Wait Until Dark", for which she earned her fifth, and last, Oscar nomination. Despite obviously being based on the long-running Broadway play; as the majority of the story takes place in an apartment and there are few characters; it translates surprisingly well onto screen and is remarkably intriguing and suspenseful. Alan Arkin, who plays one of the vilest villains of 60's cinema, Richard Crenna, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. make up the stellar supporting cast and all turn in excellent performances.

The sheer terror "Wait Until Dark" inflicts upon its audience comes from the filmmakers ability to place us in Suzy's shoes. The very idea of being blind and trapped in an apartment and horribly alone even though you are in one of the most densely populated areas of the world, just plains scares me. The nail-biting climax has some truly classic moments in it (who knew Alan Arkin was such a gymnast?) and will stick with you long after the film is over.

As always, Audrey is simply perfection. Charming and beautiful even in the most unflattering situations, she yet again proves her star power. The constant distress and anguish Audrey portrays onscreen is achingly real, and unfortunately, not very far from the truth. She was suffering from anorexia and marriage troubles with the producer of the film, Mel Ferrer, throughout the entire shoot. One can only imagine how draining it must have been for her to be required to be screaming and crying the whole shoot while dealing with these problems. Her Oscar nomination was most certainly deserved!

Few actresses have lit up the screen in the same fashion as the late Audrey Hepburn. In this 1967 thriller (her last Oscar nomination), she plays a blind woman who finds herself terrorized by a trio of men looking for a heroin-stuffed doll.
Relying on pure psychological suspense as opposed to gore and violence, WAIT UNTIL DARK is still a powerful movie. Miss Hepburn is perfect for the role---she seems so frail, and yet there is an inner strength that comes to her aid in the final moments of the film. She lost the Oscar that year to another Hepburn (Katherine in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"), and it just goes to show how Oscar at times relies more on sentimentality than the actual power of a performance.
Richard Crenna eschewed his good guy roles by playing Mike Talman, one of the cons who does appreciate Suzie's intelligence. Jack Weston, a great comic actor, also goes for more visceral drama, and his performance as the buffoon is right on target. And what about Mr. Alan Arkin? His cold, insensitive evil is just right!!! Little Julie Herrod as Gloria also does a credible job.
Terence Young's direction is tight and Henry Mancini's impeccable music also heightens the suspense.
WAIT UNTIL DARK is a classic thriller, and one of Miss Hepburn's finest moments.

I love classic thrillers, and this is definitely one of my favorites. Audrey Hepburn convincingly portrays a blind woman who, unbeknownst to her, has a heroin-filled doll in her apartment. Two recently parolled con-men and one coolly sinister killer will stop at nothing to find that doll.

Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, and Jack Weston all perform wonderfully in their roles. Especially Arkin; his Harry Roat character is one of the best villains in cinema history. The only qualm I had with characterization was Hepburn's husband, played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. His character seemed too callous, and his reaction at the end of the film was terribly written, acted, and directed. But he plays a minor role in the film, so it doesn't affect the overall quality of the picture.

Although nearly every scene takes place in Hepburn's apartment, that does not diminish the film's suspense or terror. In fact, this increases the effectiveness of the climax. To reveal any more details about this film would be criminal, though. Stay "in the dark" about the details of this film until you see it, then watch it in the dark. Like other reviewers have said, it's WELL worth it.

Wait Until Dark is another old movie that has sadly lost something as the years go by. I think the whole style of film making has changed, and as such my generation has grown up with a different idea of what can be done within the realm of celluloid. This movie is really all build up. Not to take anything away from the script or the brilliantly put together plot, but it reads like a play adapted for cinema. The scenes are slow and stay in one location and the movie keeps building to one large climax at the end. I feel a modern movie would mix it up more, with several denouements and a few more settings.
However my main beef with this movie is the overall absurdity, or perhaps naivete of the plot. 3 bad guys want to get a heroin filled-doll off a blind chick. So they concoct this overly elaborate scenario whereby they trick poor Audrey into thinking her husband killed some broad he had an affair with and this doll could be the only evidence tying him to the crime.
I sat there for an hour thinking - is this plausible, or wouldn't thugs like these really have just held her down and beaten her until she told them?
So this story creeps on for an hour, brilliant acting, good pacing, but in the end (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD) what happens?
The baddest bad guy holds her down and beats it out of her!!! Great. Couldn't you just have done that in the first place.
The other weird thing is the relationship between Hepburn and her husband - it think it's supposed to be strong and encouraging, yet through my eyes it appears abusive and derogatory - even when he first sees her after her ordeal he doesn't run to her, he make her (blind, terrified, beaten up, shaking) come to him!!! Craziness.
Audrey deserves better than him and this movie. File for divorce, spousal abuse, and get your name taken off the credits while you're at it honey.

P.S. The baddest bad guy was last spotted playing a psychiatrist in "Gross Point Blank"... He's going up in the world.

Wait Until Dark (1967) is based on a popular play by Frederick Knott and directed by Terrance Young who also did the 007 classic Thunderball (1965).

The lovely Audrey Hepburn plays Susy Hendrix, a woman left recently blind by a car accident, who is learning to adjust and cope with her new perspective on life. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is Sam Hendrix, Susy's photographer husband, with whom she shares a basement apartment in New York. Also starring is Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, and character actor Jack Weston.

The story involves drugs being smuggled into the United States within a doll, and then the doll being passed along to Susy's husband at the airport under curious but strictly coincidental circumstances. Alan Arkin plays Roat, a seedy character who was supposed to be the intended recipient of the doll/drugs, and Richard Crenna and Jack Weston are two thuggish types who get roped into helping Roat try to retrieve the doll.

Hepburn plays her role wonderfully, never once giving the viewer the impression that she isn't blind. A number of subtle points are made to allude to the strengthening of her other senses, hearing, smell, etc., that one finds common with the loss of sight. As the criminals construct their elaborate plans to liberate their illicit merchandise, Hepburn's character, being somewhat naive in the beginning, soon realizes the true sense of the danger she's in, and reacts perfectly within the nature of her character. Arkin plays his character(s) with the smooth cunning of a predator hunting its' prey, maliciously savoring the moments before the figurative kill. His beatnik appearance and demeanor mask his true form, which is revealed later on within the unfolding of the plot.

This film is very suspenseful for those with the patience to follow it through to the end. It may not have the out and out scares the title might imply, but the gradual building of tension and suspense is delicious as the viewer is 'in the know' while the main character is left to struggle with the situations. Although an exceptionally strong supporting cast helps, Hepburn really makes this film, and was awarded with an Oscar nomination for her performance. She even went so far as to attend a school for the visually impaired and learn to read Braille to better understand her character.

The print on this disc looks very nice and is in wide screen anamorphic format. Special features include a featurette on the film, an essay about transferring the play to the silver screen, and trailers for the movie. This is truly a taut thriller worthy being released on DVD, and I am appreciative of Warner Brothers for putting it out, even if I find their plastic and cardboard packaging to be cheap and annoying.

Cookieman108

Wow. This movie is great. The suspense is very well brought out. The use of light and dark gives a tremendous sense of fear. Audrey Hepburn was amazing. She pulls you inside her character. Mel Ferrer was great to deliver such a great film. I was not born in time to see it in the theater. :( Alan Arkin was superb. It was interesting to see a real actor living his character.