The Naked Edge
| The Naked Edge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Michael Anderson |
| Produced by |
George Glass Walter Seltzer Marlon Brando Sr. (executive producer) |
| Written by | Joseph Stefano |
| Based on | the novel First Train to Babylon by Max Ehrlich (1955) |
| Starring |
Gary Cooper Deborah Kerr |
| Music by | William Alwyn |
| Cinematography |
Erwin Hillier Tony White |
| Edited by | Gordon Pilkington |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country |
United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
The Naked Edge is a 1961 British-American thriller film starring Gary Cooper (in his final film role) and Deborah Kerr. The movie was a British-American co-production distributed by United Artists, directed by Michael Anderson and produced by George Glass and Walter Seltzer, with Marlon Brando Sr. as executive producer. The screenplay was by Joseph Stefano and Max Ehrlich, the music score by William Alwyn and the cinematography by Erwin Hillier and Tony White. The production design was by Carmen Dillon.[1]
The film was shot in London and at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.[2][3]
Plot
In the aftermath of a theft and murder, Martha Radcliffe (Deborah Kerr) increasingly suspects her husband George Radcliffe (Gary Cooper), whose testimony in court convicted the main suspect, of being the real culprit.
Businessman Jason Root (Martin Boddey) is stabbed to death on a night when George and a clerk named Donald Heath (Ray McAnally) are the only other employees working at the office. A mailbag full of money is stolen in the process. George sees Heath in the Boiler Room when he runs after the murderer right after he hears Root crying after being stabbed; George, who is seen sweating nervously both during the trial and later, insists that Heath must have been the murderer, and Heath is convicted. Several years later a lost mailbag is found and the Radcliffes receive a letter long delayed that was in the bag. The letter, which Martha reads, contains a blackmail threat from Jeremy Gray (Eric Portman) accusing George of the crime.
As the story unfolds, clues pointing to George quickly accumulate. These include a new business he started soon after the trial, using money that he claims to have made in the stock market; his own desperate desire for success; his lying to his wife in order to secretly search for Gray; the suspicious new business with an unknown man, Morris Brooke (Michael Wilding) right after the trial; and Gray's claim, when Martha finds him, that he was an eyewitness to the crime and George was the murderer.
George and Martha repeatedly have conversations in which she vacillates between questioning him and insisting she believes in his innocence, and he alternates between insisting that she believe in him and telling her to make up her own mind. Tension is built by the repeated appearance of George's old-style shaving razor, his insistence that she join him at the edge of a cliff, references to his masculine virility, and his warning that her investigation could threaten his business.
At the conclusion, a man tries to kill Martha after being seen sharpening George's razor. The man turns out to be Gray. George rescues his wife just in time and subdues Gray as the police arrive.
Cast
- Gary Cooper as George Radcliffe
- Deborah Kerr as Martha Radcliffe
- Eric Portman as Jeremy Gray
- Ray McAnally as Donald Heath
- Diane Cilento as Mrs. Heath
- Hermione Gingold as Lilly Harris
- Peter Cushing as Mr. Evan Wrack
- Michael Wilding as Morris Brooke
- Ronald Howard as Mr. Claridge
- Sandor Elès as Manfridi St John
- Wilfrid Lawson as Mr. Pom
- Helen Cherry as Miss Osborne
- Joyce Carey as Victoria Hicks
- Diane Clare as Betty
- Frederick Leister as Judge
- Martin Boddey as Jason Roote
- Peter Wayn as Chauffeur
Critical reception
In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther dismissed the film as "manufactured tension of the plainest sort, worked up with illogical twists and tricks of photography and cutting by which director Michael Anderson has apparently hoped to heighten the melodramatic mood. It also has a good cast, in addition to Mr. Cooper and Miss Kerr — Eric Portman, Michael Wilding, Hermione Gingold, Diane Cilento and even Wilfred Lawson and Joyce Carey in bit roles. But it is pure claptrap entertainment—a piece of cheese, as we say, full of holes. And it is sad to see poor old Coop in it. Well, we can remember him for many better things";[4] whereas Variety noted, "the picture that winds up Gary Cooper’s long list of credits is a neatly constructed, thoroughly professional little suspense meller." [5]