Product: Sudden Fear [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
Fear with a Twist and then Some
This is a first-class thriller based on the novel by Edna Sherry of an affluent playwright who discovers her new husband is planning to kill her. You see, she done him wrong at an earlier date. Now it's retribution time. But who is outdoing whom? Twists abound. Joan Crawford (Oscar nominated) and Jack Palance (his first Oscar nomination) are excellent. The cast also includes Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston and Touch (Mike) Connors. The effective Black and White cinematography is by Charles Lang (also Oscar nominated). This film also boasts one of Elmer Bernstein's earliest scores. Bernstein has been a leading writer of film scores since the mid-1950s, when his work on THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) elevated him into the front rank of Hollywood composers. His score for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) made him immortal and launched him into a string of successful Western scores through that decade. However, he highly has been noted for his strong use of solo instruments and his facility with the jazz idiom. 1999's WILD, WILD WEST returned him to his beloved Western.