Heisse Spuren

Although French ,Jacques Bergerac made only two movies in his native land :"un homme se penche sur son passé" and a small part in "Marie-Antoinette Reine De France "where he is virtually unknown ; is it because of that that his name in the movie is Colbert (like Claudette ,who is famous both in the US and in her native land)?

"Fear no more " is an excellent Hitchcokian thriller , with a solid screenplay,and good acting ,particularly by Mala Powers ,lost in a nightmarish set -up : as soon as they arrive in her boss's house, there's no more letup as the story continues to build in suspense and intensity as the interventions become more and more overwhelming for the heroine -who spent some time in a mental hospital- who thinks she's losing her mind -and her only ally does too;Helena Nash's face recalls several hitchcock's villainesses (" the man who knew too much" 2nd version ,"notorious" )

And the screenwriters had not forgotten Hitchcock's lesson:expect the unexpected ; the sudden new developments are numerous all along the movie ,and the supporting characters are not cardboard ( the child's mother is not so petulant, Seymour is not so strong);but the movie belongs to Mala Powers ,whose facial expressions ran the gamut from pain to terror to rebellion.

Fear No More is a Hitchcock lite low budget noirish conspiracy thriller. It was the only film made by director Bernard Wiesen. The rest of his output was television shows.

Sharon (Mala Powers) is a secretary taken to the train for a business trip to San Francisco by her employer's chauffeur. He puts her on the train and gives her an envelope for an errand.

In the compartment she finds a stranger and a dead woman. She is knocked out and when she regains consciousness. A cop accuses her of murder. Sharon manages to escape from the cop.

She is almost run down by Paul (Jacques Bergerac) a Frenchman taking his son back to his ex wife Denise. Paul gives Sharon a lift to her Los Angeles apartment where she lives with Keith.

Only when she returns to the apartment after going out for a drink with Paul. Keith is dead and the same killer from the train pursues her.

It transpires that Sharon had a mental breakdown. Maybe she is mad or paranoid. Her employer Milo Seymour tells a different story. Sharon was not sent on a business trip and stole $3000 from his safe which is in her envelope.

Not only that, the dead woman from her train compartment walks in. She is alive and well and claims to be Milo's wife.

Despite the low budget, there are a lot of twists as it seems Milo has elaborate plans of his own. The ending does get very hysterical and melodramatic which is a bit of a let down.

A terse little thriller which both recalls 'North by Northwest' and 'Psycho' and anticipates 'Marnie' and 'Torn Curtain' shot by the Academy Award-winning cameraman Ernest Haller beginning at Union Station at night and ending in the Hollywood Hills the following morning.

The plot gets so convoluted you half expect it all to turn out to be a dream (or rather a nightmare) but when it finally does reach it's conclusion it does so satisfactorily.

Secretary Sharon Carlin (Mala Powers) heads from Los Angeles to San Francisco via train on a business trip. Things go bad the moment the train leaves the station as she is met in her cabin by a dead woman and a man with a gun, who knocks her unconscious. She is woken up by a cop who tells her the body has been moved and she is being charged with murder. She jumps off the train and soon runs into good Samaritan Paul Colbert (Jacques Bergerac). He initially believes her story, but then begins to have doubts when she reveals she spent time in a mental institution for murder. This 77-minute picture moves at a fast pace and has some nice twists in it. Viewers will actually start to doubt Sharon's story and her paranoia is well established. Not a classic, but worth watching once if just for the scene where Colbert's son cracks his forehead on the dashboard in a near crash.

Entertaining movie. Don't turn it off, it gets better. One thing that doesn't ring true. She believes the police are looking for her believing she is a murderer. They have her purse and, with it, her home address. So, after she escapes from the police, instead of trying to hide, she goes home and thinks every thing is now OK. I'd be trying to dig a hole to hide in. But, that aside, it's a very entertaining film and moves quickly.