The Very Edge

The Very Edge is directed by Cyril Frankel and written by Leslie Bricusse and Vivian Cox. It stars Richard Todd, Anne Heywood, Jack Hedley, Jeremy Brett, Nicole Maurey, Maurice Denham, William Lucas and Patrick Magee. Music is by David Lee and cinematography by Robert Huke.

After she is assaulted in her own home by unhinged admirer Mullen (Brett), Tracey Lawrence (Heywood) struggles to keep control of her marriage to Geoffrey (Todd), who himself doesn't quite know how to react to Tracey's trauma. More pressing is that Mullen is still on the loose and clearly isn't going to go away...

It should be better, there is so much promise on offer of a real frightening "stalker" movie, but it ultimately ends up as a standard meller. Where it does score favourably is with the character strands that deal with a once happy marriage coming apart at the seams post the trauma incident. Things are further complicated by husband Geoffrey's French personal assistant, Helen (Maurey), who senses the time is right to confess her passions for Geoff!

Lurking around the dark corners of this emotionally bubbling human stew is Mullen, a genuinely twitchy and edgy menace of frightening capabilities, with the character brilliantly realised by future Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett. It's all built competently by Frankel, brick by formulaic brick, right up to a roof top finale which brings the audience of the time the expected results. Magee is unfortunately only used sparingly, but with Heywood and Brett giving riveting readings, the staid acting elsewhere doesn't hurt the picture. While David Lee's music is excellent, a constant low tone plinking of foreboding menace.

A wasted opportunity? Yes, pretty much, but some value to be found in certain quarters. 6.5/10

A sex maniac (SHERLOCK HOLMES' Jeremy Brett) breaks into the home of happy housewife Tracey Lawrence (Anne Heywood) to assault and almost rape her which causes the girl to miscarry and become frigid. This, of course, is a problem for her husband, Geoffrey (Richard Todd), who finds solace in the arms of his sympathetic secretary (Nicole Maurey) but that's the least of Tracey's worries because the pervert makes it clear he'll stop at nothing to have at her again...

Britain was way ahead of the U.S. when it came to tackling adult subject matter in a mature manner beginning with THE VICTIM but that isn't always the right approach as THE VERY EDGE proves. Although marketed as exploitation ("No Woman Should See This Film Without A Man!"), it's actually a rather subdued "thriller" that comes perilously close to "timid" so don't expect many surprises. Unlike similarly-themed Hollywood exploitation shockers such as THE BEAT GENERATION and WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR?, Tracey isn't raped in lurid fashion, just chased around the living room a few times but that said, the film's ahead of the curve on "stalking", a crime that wouldn't register on public consciousness until decades later.

Many folks remember that Jeremy Brett was made famous by starring in a ton of wonderful Sherlock Holmes episodes in the 1980s up to his death in 1995. For Conan Doyle fans like myself, they are simply the best versions of the classic tales. So when I saw that Brett played a crazed intruder in this 1960s film, I had to see it! The only other film I recall seeing him in was "My Fair Lady".

Tracey (Anne Heywood) is a married lady who has done some modeling. A crazed man (Brett) has apparently seen her photos in magazines and has convinced himself that they are in love and he MUST possess her. She learns of this when he breaks into her house and attacks her. She is able to fight him off and her husband's arrival home results in his running. After, he continues to watch and follow her as well as make threatening phone calls to her. This has all made her life a living hell and the marriage is suffering as well. Ultimately, the man is caught...but this isn't a complete end to her problems.

I appreciated that this film was not just a thriller but focused a lot on the psychological damaged done to the victim. The effect on her sex life, the marriage and her depression are shown very well in this movie and this impressed me about the film. It had surprising depth and realism. It also showed the degree to which the marriage disintegrated...a sadly overlooked problem in cases involving some rapes. attempted rapes and the like.

By the way, according to IMDb, Miss Heywood was Miss Britain in 1949 or 50 (it says both years).

Nicole Maurey was very good in the role of Elena Antonescu in "Secret of the Incas" opposite Charlton Heston. Here too she is the most compelling, she does the best role. The other actors, Richard Todd, Anne Heywood, are not in their best form. Because the story is boring, uninteresting.

When Jeremy Brett assaults Anne Heywood, the aftermath has longterm effects on her and husband Richard Todd in this well wrought thriller.

This movie tries to say something real about the mental issues involved in stalking: the stalker's obsession, the victim's fears, the ancillaries victims' suffering. It's a matter that has consumed Western lawmaking for millennia, with no clear consensus yet in sight. What are we to conclude when Jeremy Brett's character says he is consumed with thoughts of Heywood? Blaming the victim may be satisfactory from the criminal's viewpoint, but my brand of libertarianism includes personal responsibility and the assertion that criminals, whether they commit crimes because of mental illness or conscious decision, should bear the burden of their transgressions; every time I watch a movie and the perp announces that the next crime is the fault of the victim or the police officer who has failed to shoot him.... puh-leeze!

Such issues are not going to be solved, or even adequately addressed in 90-mnute second features like this. Good performances, like those here, may make an entertaining thriller, but they butter no parsnips.