Passo falso

After spending most of the sixties specialising in low-keyed black & white slices of life this marked Bryan Forbes' chance to provide a slice of cake. The package of Michael Caine (sans glasses) playing a dashing jewel thief against a backdrop of glamorous Spanish locations with a score by John Barry obviously made it easy to get backing. Just so you get the message it also has a credit sequence complete with a song by Shirley Bassey.

Although the heist itself delivers the goods, the principals spend far too much time languidly talking (and talking) about their emotions. Vladek Sheybal (also a Bond veteran) offers an unsettling cameo as a psychiatrist (who manages to give hitherto unsuspected menace to the single word "ma-ssage"); while in addition to the inevitable Nanette Newman - at one point briefly seen snogging David Buck to Barry's theme from 'Beat Girl' - Giovanni Ralli and Eric Portman (in his last film) are memorably poisonous as Caine's partners in crime.

Sure, the late 1960s were a rather permissive time. Nudity and highly realistic violence had crept into films and once taboo topics were becoming more and more commonplace. Still, I think some of the plot elements in "Deadfall" must have shocked a few folks back then. That's because the plot involves more than just burglaries, as one of the main characters is gay---a novel idea for its time.

The film begins with Henry Clark (Michael Caine) in rehab for alcoholism. A pretty lady (Giovanna Ralli) shows up with a business proposition--she knows he's a top burglar and wants him for a job with her husband (Eric Portman). The trio join forces and their goal eventually is to go for a seemingly impossible job--but they do an easier one first. This job does not go smoothly, but seeing this portion of the film is the highlight of the movie.

By the way, although the plot left me a bit cold, the music by John Barry was great and the director's use of intercutting scenes during the first burglary are quite good. Along the line, Caine falls for his new partner's wife. This isn't a major problem, as her husband is gay. But, oddly, she is very loyal to him and won't leave him. However, there is an odd secret--something much stranger afoot that no one except the husband yet knows. What it is turns out to be kind of weird--and leads to a very anticlimactic and depressing ending. All in all, a creative caper film but one that is, at times, very talky and many won't like the downbeat ending. I think it's worth a look--a decent film but certainly not a must-see.

After seeing this, I could be persuaded why Caine's is so well known for making dud decisions as to the choice of his films. While comparisons are inevitably made with the earlier and strictly played for laughs Gambit, this is a thief movie with no humour whatsoever and as the film progresses from intrigue to jealousy, and then from drudgery to death.

Overdirected? Most critics say so, but in the main, this was one of the aspects I most liked about the film. An early scene where Caine talks to the a youthful Leonard Rossiter can be noted for the lack of any shot of them both together in conversation. Others however, are sheer melodrama and should never have made it to the final cut.

Interesting for early Caine fans only, as thereafter the attractiveness fades and only the director, Bryan Forbes, nice man as he is, can really be left to carry the can, so to speak. Speeding to a climax which is just plain odd, the film rather leaves too much detail unexplained. While it appears easy to fill in the gaps, not enough time elapses between the final revelations and the dramatic close, to believe that not one of the characters could have really thought sensibly about all of this, and therefore not taken such drastic actions. Bewildering though not without charm.

DEADFALL is a lushly photographed suspense story with a cat burglar theme, wallowing in a full bodied John Barry score--especially during the major heist involving MICHAEL CAINE's high climbing bit where he's breaking into a playboy's mansion. Clever editing permits cross-cutting between a concert hall suite and the burglary in progress. GIOVANNA RALLI is the pretty Italian woman married to the mastermind of the burglary--ERIC PORTMAN--an aged homosexual.

After the main burglary, the story sags from mid-point onward with talky scenes between Caine and Ralli where she talks about her failed marriage and revelations of a sordid kind. All of this leads toward a downbeat ending with explanations made that are supposed to be shocking but don't have the desired impact because by then the pace of the film has become too lethargic.

ERIC PORTMAN gets the best lines but the dialog is hardly up to the caliber of Tennessee Williams and that's what is needed here, considering the sort of material the story deals with.

Summing up: Handsomely photographed on locations in England and Spain, it's a so-so crime caper after a solidly suspenseful burglary. The John Williams score is its biggest asset.

It deals with a cat burgler : Michel Caine who is hired by a rare and mysterious marriage : Giovanna Ralli , Eric Portman to execute a house theft . He has to carry out a cat burlar at a luxurious mansion at great risk to limb and life . Meanwhile , the burgler falls in love with the young wife of his gay accomplice .Michael Caine stood on a wall.. Michael Caine has a deadfall ! Michael Caine plunges into the world of the adulterious ... the treacherous ,.. and the perverse !

Thrilling and interesting film about house robbery with action , trills , emotion , a love story and replete with a Shirley Bassey theme tune . This is a stop-go thriller being slow-moving at times , but entertaining enough . Of course , the best scenes result to be when our starring bringing off a daring heist intercut with clips from the concert attended by the owners of the house he is stealing , otherwise the action is undermourished . Trio of protagonists are frankly well . Michael Caine is very good in his usual style as the resourceful stealer carrying out dangerous robberies . The beautiful spouse , the Italian Giovanna Ralli , is fine as the woman who has been mentally scarred by his dad's membership of the Gestapo . And Eric Portman steals the show as the good-manners and sophisticated thief . Along with these nice stars , there is a small group of secondaries appearing and delivering brief interpretations , such as : Leonard Rossiter, Philip Madoc , Vladek Sheybal , composer John Barry himself , cameo by prestigious writer who lived in Majorca and Nanette Newman who was Bryan Forbes' wife , as well as Spanish secondaries as Emilio Rodríguez and Santiago Rivero .

It contains a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Gerry Turpin, shot on spectacular location in Majorca Balearic Islands , Spain and Pinewood Studios , Buckinghamshire , England , U K. The motion picture was professionally directed by Bryan Forbes , though it has some flaws and gaps . Being the special mention for the haunting musical score by John Barry , adding a 20-minute guitar concerto to accompany the hold-up . Both , composer John Barry and filmmaker Bryan Forbes collaborated in six theatrical movies , being this Deadfall their final movie . Director Bryan Forbes was also a notorious actor who directed some acceptable movies , such as : "Whistle down the wind , The L-shaped Room, Seance on a Wet Afternoon , King Rat , The Whisperers , The Raging Moon, The Slipper and the Rose , International Velvet , Better late than never , The Naked Face" , among others. The picture will appeal to Michael Caine fans .