Le Couteau dans la plaie

"Five Miles To Midnight" is a thriller with very few thrills. It does, however, offer some redeeming qualities which make it worthwhile for select viewers. Unlike many of the reviews posted here, I don't think the film is miscast. Anthony Perkins may not fit the description of a physical brute, but his persistent neediness is just as controlling and abusive. Creating such an unlikeable character is a complete reversal of Norman Bates, who was so endearing you almost wanted him to get away with murder. Sophia Loren not only looks beautiful, but turns in a fine, convincing performance. Remember, English is not her first language, yet her phrasing and tone are utterly real, as are her reactions. No surprise that she was awarded a Best Actress Oscar two years previously. The Paris we see here is not a postcard view, but rather a seedier image captured in stark black and white photography. The fault with this film is the script, which is lazy and weak and squanders an intriguing premise. "Five Miles To Midnight" is still worth a look.

Rather pedestrian, generally slow, and, as others have succinctly noted, very miscast "thriller" about a husband surviving a plane crash and forcing his estranged, unhappy wife into acting like he is dead in order to cash in the huge insurance settlement. Tony Perkins plays the mean, horrible husband - and there are times when his boyish looks and behaviours actually come off as somewhat convincing but more often as not he just seems not up to the part. Sophia Loren - wildly miscast as the downtrodden wife and the wife of this guy to boot. She opens the film doing what has to be the best version of the Twist I have ever seen(she is lovely, absolutely lovely!). But Loren is given really very little to do and she looks so disinterested throughout most of the film until she has some climatic scenes at the end and overacts. There is little thriller here at all - mostly Loren looking unhappy and Perkins smiling and trying to be shocking. Huhhhhh! Sorry I was stifling a yawn. Gig Young, again miscast, plays some former police detective leering at Loren throughout and getting in so to speak to the Italian Zone in Paris. The Parisian backdrops and even the French-themed music are rather nice but I saw the ending coming well before the five mile marker and way before midnight.

Anthony Perkins is not exactly the abusive husband type (especially to an ever-beautiful Sophia Loren). Add to it the plot elements of master-minding an insurance fraud, and the odds of good-natured Perkins pulling it off become immeasurable.

The sole survivor of a plane crash, Perkins was fortunate to have taken out a special insurance policy (even if the odds of dying in a crash were 1 in 1,000,000). Good wife Loren, already prepared for widowhood by the "news", gets a good shock when Perkins shows up, pressuring Loren to play along with the hoax to collect the insurance money.

Although the ending is somewhat of a surprise, the time spent getting there seems like an endless and tiresome walk through the woods, only to arrive at a run down greasy spoon as a reward. Without any frills or glamour, even shot in b&w, this is a less than average vehicle for either of the stars. Look for a young Tommy Norden (of TV's "Flipper" Fame) in a minor role. Otherwise, skip it altogether!**

The evocative opening scene of Five Miles Before Midnight held promise. I anticipated a moody piece of film noir with an intriguing female lead rather than the usual male. I was also hoping for more of Jean Pierre Aumont, who distinguishes any film he's in, but his role was little more than a cameo. However Sophia Loren, though lovely to look at, does not yet have the dramatic punch to carry off this role, or perhaps she only required better direction. There was ambiguity suggested about how faithful she was to husband Tony Perkins and this could have been put over nicely with a more well seasoned performance. Perhaps it was simply their pairing together--I didn't think they possessed any chemistry. It's hard to believe she ever found anything attractive about Perkins well established immaturity. What woman would? In any case, she doesn't breathe enough life into her character of put-upon housewife and near the film's conclusion, she goes overboard in a frankly unbelievable personality transformation. Also, the "surprise" ending was no surprise to this reviewer, who wonders why she didn't see the obvious way out of her troubles much earlier. It is however, an entirely watchable film and one of those that you kind of like to poke fun at. Certainly there are worse films out there!

Certainly Anatole Litvak was no slouch as a director, but he missed the mark here in "Five Miles to Midnight," a 1962 film starring Sophia Loren, Tony Perkins and Gig Young.

Lisa Macklin (Sophia Loren) married to an American, believes that her husband (Tony Perkins) has been killed in an airplane crash. Actually, he was a survivor and wants to collect $120,000 in insurance he took out before the flight by pretending to be dead. Of course, his wife has to collect it.

The two don't exactly get along, and the only way to be rid of him is for Lisa to collect the money for him. She is falling for a newspaperman (Young), who is suspicious as to what is going on. Her husband promises he will let her go once he has the money.

This is a very unsatisfactory film, in part because of the miscasting of Tony Perkins as Loren's husband. Not only that, but the acting just isn't very good even from pros like Loren, Perkins and Young.

Litvak only made two more films after this - it appears he lost his touch after making some marvelous films: This Above All, All This and Heaven Too, Tovarich, City for Conquest. Either that or he had to make too many concessions.

At any rate, he didn't pay too much attention to what the actors were doing. The story just meanders along. Not very good.