Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Deborah Kerr, Eric Portman, Diane Cilento, Hermione Gingold
Release Year: 1961
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
There is nothing like suspecting your husband of murder to add suspense to a marriage, at least that is the case in this standard whodunit with a compelling plot. George Radcliffe (Gary Cooper) testifies in court against a man suspected of murdering George's business partner, absconding with a lot of cash in the process. Several years later, when his wife, Martha (Deborah Kerr), is confronted by a blackmailer (Eric Portman) who says her husband murdered his partner, she gets suspicious. George did come into a lot of money just at that time. And to make matters worse, life starts to turn very menacing for the confused and frightened Martha. This was Gary Cooper's last feature film. He succumbed to cancer a few months before The Naked Edge was released. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
A Hitchcock film that is unfortunately lacking Hitchcock, The Naked Edge is a moderately entertaining suspenser, despite numerous flaws. The real culprits in this "whodunit" are the writer and the director, who must share the blame for the majority of Naked's failings. The screenplay, as appropriate for the genre, is quite intricately plotted; yet there are a number of plot holes that are quite bothersome, and the ending is a bit of a letdown. The plot holes would not necessarily have been so noticeable had director Michael Anderson kept his work taut and gripping. Instead, he directs at a pace that lags when it needs to sprint, allowing plenty of time for the plot problems to gnaw at the viewer. In addition, many of the situations feel forced and the dialogue contrived. Again, better direction could have glossed over this to an extent, but Anderson's is not subtle enough to keep the viewer from feeling manipulated by the contrivances. Still, there are a number of set pieces that do work, and while Gary Cooper is a bit wan in his final film, Deborah Kerr is in very fine form, carrying much of the film on her slender shoulders. She's aided by a very good supporting cast that includes Eric Portman, Diane Cilento, and Hermione Gingold. Naked is not the film it wants to be, but the cast make it a decent enough little thriller. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Julie Harris - Costume Designer, Peter Bolton - First Assistant Director, Michael Anderson - Director, Gordon Pilkington - Editor, William Alwyn - Composer (Music Score), Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Tony Sforzini - Makeup, Carmen Dillon - Production Designer, Erwin Hillier - Cinematographer, George Glass - Producer, Walter Seltzer - Producer, Vernon Dixon - Set Designer, Joseph Stefano - Screenwriter, Max Ehrlich - Screenwriter, Max Ehrlich - Book Author
The film follows the aftermath of a theft and murder, especially the fears of Martha Radcliffe (Kerr), who, as she investigates the crime, increasingly suspects her husband George Radcliffe (Cooper), whose testimony in court convicted the main suspect, of being the real culprit. Only at the end of the film is another man revealed to be the killer.
Businessman Jason Root is stabbed to death on a night when George and a clerk named Donald Heath are the only other employees working at the office. A mailbag full of money is stolen in the process. George, who is seen sweating nervously both during the trial and later in the film, insists that Heath must have been the murderer, and Heath is convicted. Several months later, the mailbag is found, and the Radcliffes receive a letter that was in the bag. The letter, which Martha reads, contains a blackmail threat from Jeremy Gray (Portman) accusing George of the crime.
As the story unfolds, clues pointing to George quickly accumulate. These include a new business started by Radcliffe 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; some suspicious business with an unknown man; and Gray's claim, when Martha finds him, that he was an eyewitness to the crime and Radcliffe was the murderer.
Throughout the film, 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 and maintained between George and Martha 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 film's conclusion, a man tries to kill Martha after being seen sharpening George's razor, but the man turns out to be Gray. George rescues his wife just in time and subdues Gray as the police arrive.
