La force des ténèbres

I loved this film, but it's not for everybody. There are many experimental aspects (music, camera angles, the performances) that reflect the time period in which it was filmed. Think Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, Dr. Strangelove, Psycho, etc, and you'll be more prepared. It came the year after Tom Jones and was co-produced by Finney, and as a result, was not the kind of film Finney fans were expecting. I suspect that is why the film is not more well known.

A couple of IMDb viewers were rather harsh concerning Finney's performance, but I have to disagree. I was completely mesmerized and I highly recommend it.

Probably not a good movie to watch on a dark stormy night by yourself. At the same time, don't expect a typical horror film--I was thrown off by the very beginning and halfway through, I was questioning what I had seen--I think this was deliberate, and has a lot to do with Danny's character. I think this is a cautionary tale more than anything else. You'll understand what I mean if you've seen it.

The remake of the 1937 film was slaughtered both by critics and audience at the time it premiered and there was mainly one reason for it:the crazed fans of Albert Finney were absolutely shocked,as he daringly chose the role of the psychotic ''killer with the angelic face'', following his all-time favorite roles of ''Saturday night and Sunday morning''and, particularly, ''Tom Jones''.As many historians mention, the ''MGM wives'' who were few of the first to see the film, turned violently against the gifted director, Karel Reisz, shouting ''what have you done to that beautiful boy?''!But this is not a serious reason to dismiss an, overall, very good film, which, however, has some serious flaws.The use of music is exaggerated and some times irritating and, only in the first part of the film, Finney doesn't quite know how to tackle with his disturbed character. But the photography is great, Mona Washbourne gives a superb performance and Karel Reisz does a great job, not only updating the old text and bringing it within the ''realism'' of the British Free Cinema movement, but also with his masterful camera movements and his use of editing and abruptly cutting to different scenes, he creates an imposing psychological thriller, where what you don't see is more disturbing than what you do. Being one of the greatest actors EVER, Finney soon finds a convincing attitude for his character and the last part of the film is absolutely brilliant as a whole.It should be re-examined and re-appreciated, that's why it has to come out on VHS and DVD a.s.a.p.! 7.5/10

A critical failure at the time of its release and considered something of a let-down for its director and star, (it was certainly an odd choice of material), this 1964 film version of Emlyn Williams' play, (it was written in 1935 and filmed two years later with Robert Montgomery), is nowhere near as bad as people say. It's the one about the young psychopath, (a terrific Albert Finney), who worms his way into the affections of elderly invalid Mona Washbourne, (superb), and her initially stand-offish daughter, (an excellent Susan Hampshire). The problem is that in attempting to get to the psychological heart of the piece director Karl Reisz drains it of all suspense and Clive Exton's screenplay, (I haven't seen or read the original play), is a bit on the dull side. But neither is it a disaster and I have never understood why it disappeared so soon after its initial appearance.

Just watched this film on TCM. Quite enjoyable and not as bad as I'd heard from reviews I'd read over the years. My only problem was that I was expecting to understand more about Finney's character by the end of the film (ie: what lead to his psychotic behaviour, what had gone wrong in his childhood...that kind of thing), but never got any deep insight at all. Which for me made him rather a 1 dimensional screen psycho - and therefore the film was not as interesting as it should have been. And the end of the movie was a ..."so what?" affair.

Did I miss something?

Or was I expecting a movie with more depth than it actually had?

Even after 55 years Albert Finney's performance as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde womanizer who can turn into a deranged psychotic killer at the slightest of conversations is not to be missed. I think this film is an under rated classic and in the same realm as Psycho.

A must see if you enjoy thrillers.