The Naked Edge

Plot synopsis:
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.

Tags: murder

Review:
Cooper and Kerr in a Hitchcock-Like that is Hitchcock-Lite.
Michael Anderson's 1961 thriller, "The Naked Edge," is a nicely done mystery that echoes Hitchcock's "Suspicion" in many respects.
Although looking tired as Radcliffe, Cooper manages, like Cary Grant in "Suspicion," to maintain his nice-guy image, while suggesting something darker and enigmatic.
Kerr is at the center of the film as clues surface, her suspicions grow, and she seeks the truth behind both the murder and her husband's inexplicable behavior.A stellar cast of stalwart British actors support the stars; led by Hermione Gingold and the priceless Wilfred Lawson, the list includes Michael Wilding, Peter Cushing, Eric Porter, and Diane Cilento.
While Anderson is not Hitchcock, and "The Naked Edge" is not "Suspicion," the director manages to maintain a brisk pace, build tension and suspense, and reach an exciting and satisfying climax.Well done throughout, "The Naked Edge" will grip viewers and keep them absorbed to the end and beyond, when a voice-over warns the audience not to divulge the ending.
Of interest for more than just a great American star's final role or for another opportunity to admire the always radiant Deborah Kerr, the film is a taut thriller that delivers.
Not-bad adaptation of Max Ehrlich's novel "First Train to Babylon" turned out to be Gary Cooper's final film (he died before its release).
An American Air Freight sales manager in London testifies against a fellow employee in a murder/robbery trial; five years later, with the manager and his spouse now living in luxury, the wife begins to suspect that her husband was the killer the entire time.
Hurt by a seemingly lower-end budget--and by a script that doesn't always make sense--this is still a most unusual project for Cooper, who manages a fine performance.
Deborah Kerr stays wide-eyed and white-knuckled throughout as Cooper's wife; she's also quite good, though the godawful shlock music by William Alwyn underlines all of her suspicions with a thundering of drums that could wake the dead.
The suspense of this film evokes the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Creative shot selection (especially the preparation of the wife's death), fine performances (especially from Deborah Kerr), and a compelling plot create an entertaining movie experience, 7/10.
Deborah Kerr is torn asunder by her increasingly agonizing suspicion of her husband Gary Cooper as a murderer..
In Gary Cooper's last performance you can see that he is almost washed up, acting like an old age Roark (from 'The Fountainhead') stiffer than ever with very little stamina left, while fortunately Deborah Kerr makes up for it completely in her superb rendering of a married lady who just can't make things add up, wavering between an increasing suspicion of her husband's possibly having committed an heinous murder while at the same time refusing to believe it could be true.
The film begins with the murder trial with Gary Cooper sweating from the beginning, he himself can't make things quite fit while he is perfectly convinced that he couldn't be wrong, while the triumph of the film is the very clever story.
By the accumulating inconsistencies a suspense is mercilessly built up and increased all the way to the bitter end in a virtuoso thriller more like Hitchcock than any Hitchcock.
The real turning point though is the marvellous scene with Diane Cilento as the victim's wife, whom Deborah Kerr visits with traumatic consequences, which really triggers her suspicion and conviction that nothing in this story fits.
The last film of Gary Cooper is an enjoyable thriller-drama.
But this one kept my attention from beginning to end.The story is about a man(Cooper) who's a witness to a murder and thanks to whose testimony the killer is locked away.
Years later, Cooper's wife(Kerr) starts to suspect her husband.
Cooper is very good in his last role as the husband, but Kerr was less convincing as his wife.
But if you don't like old films, this is a good movie to help you with that.
From there we are taken through a very suspenseful ride in trying to figure out wether a woman is right in suspecting her husband for murder, accusing the wrong man for murder, or covering up for the murderer.
Gary Cooper's last film is a Hitchcock like tale of a man who wrongly identifies the killer of his boss during a robbery.
Years later a mail pouch that was lost during another robbery and a blackmail letter is delivered to Cooper.
Wife Deborah Kerr now thinks her husband did it and becomes fearful.This sounds a lot like Hitchcock's Suspicion and in fact the whole film is a case of Hitchcock wannabe.
It utilizes innovative camera and editing techniques that echo Alfred Hitchcock's scary scenes from Psycho, alludes to sex in a way few films had been able to do since the fall of the Hays Code, and put the word "naked" in the title!
Years later, he's a successful businessman, and he and his wife Deborah Kerr are living a life of luxury.
Although Deborah's character isn't written to be the smartest tool in the shed, she does a good job exuding her fear and doubt without turning it into a melodrama.
This is the only movie I've seen where Gary Cooper plays a bad guy!
There's a scene where Deborah Kerr gets lost and when she runs up and down the streets, the camera is hand-held.
Gary Cooper's last movie and unfortunately not one of his best.
In many cases the music is aided by quick and ultra-sharp close-ups that makes you think that your seeing a Mel Brooks comedy of an Alfred Hitchcock film like the 1977 movie "High Anxiety".
Gary Cooper in his last movie, before he died on May 13, 1961, looks drawn and tired as George Radcliffe a witness to the murder of his boss Jason Roote, Martin Boddey,and the robbery of 60,000 pound-sterling from the London office of the Jason Roote Air-Fright corp where he works.
Radcliffe seems to be hiding something about the crime that happened at the Jason Roote office from his wife Martha, Deborah Kerr.
That's the main core of the story in the movie "The Naked Edge" but you have to suffer through almost 90 minutes of ridicules Hitchcock-like dramatics to get to the truth in the last ten minutes or so of the movie which, the films totally contrived ending, didn't seem worth sitting through.
Even top stars like Gary Cooper and Deborah Kerr as well as Eric Portman and Peter Cushing couldn't save this turkey.
We see at the start of the movie George Radcliffe testify about a murder and robbery at the Jason Roote office in a weird dream-like flash-back where Roote is murdered, off-screen.
Watching the film is like going 15 rounds in the ring with a 30 year-old Rocky Marciano that in the end leaves you totally punch-drunk from the pounding to your five senses that the movie gives you.
The blasts of music and eye-popping close-ups as well as the strain on your brain make any kind of sense of what your seeing on the screen moot.A key piece of evidence shows up five years after the Roote murder that's in a letter that was lost in the mail addressed to Radcliffe that's being used to blackmail him for the crime.
Radcliffe also came into a large sum of money just after the Roote murder which he tells his confused and surprised wife Martha that he made in a "Killing" in the stock market.
You sit through the rest of the movie wondering if Radcliffe did or did not kill Jason Roote and stole the 60,000 in pound-sterling.
The really off-the-wall and obnoxious ending in the movie is far worse then the murder/robbery in the film "The Naked Edge".
There is a stylistic feel to this film, a clever use of dark and light tones and an impressive use of camera angles and close ups which does give more than a nod towards Hitchcock, though perhaps at times it is a little overdone.
It draws you in and holds you tight until the end.I thought Cooper and Kerr were well matched and that Kerr played exactly the woman the character would have to be, i.e sheltered, very frightened, way out of her depth and near suicidal.I thought the scene where she's watching a concert on TV was particularly telling, I felt that she's waiting there, expecting Cooper to come and kill her, indeed, surrendering to this fate as the only way out.
That's why she has the TV so loud, so she can't hear him approaching and to drown out her own thoughts.The scene where she's desperately trying to get out of the flat blocks complex was good too; certain that her husband's the murderer she can see the outside world but can't become part of it.The tension was taut and maintained throughout.
Gary Cooper is no Cary Grant; however, the plot of the film is so compelling that it carries both of the main characters along with it.
Like Suspicion, this film depicts a wife who has grave doubts about her husband; there is even a scene quite similar to Suspicion with the drive to the dangerous steep fall.
Deborah Kerr carries it off well as his doubting wife.
The subplots in the film add to the suspense, as it appears a man has been wrongly convicted of murder from the testimony of Cooper.
A sales manager (Gary Cooper) fingers coworker (Ray McAnally) for the murder of his boss and theft of a large sum of money.
After the trial, Cooper tells wife Deborah Kerr that he is purchasing a business with a large sum of money he made from a killing in the market.
With the prodding of blackmailer Eric Portman, Kerr grows increasingly suspicious that her husband was guilty of the murder and theft.
Cooper was horribly miscast: He was too old for this role - he looked ridiculous next to Kerr discussing how they were struggling to make it.
Nevertheless, the cast is good and turned in fine performances with the exception of Cooper, who struggled with the dialog, and Michael Wilding who is mostly wasted.
All I knew was that Gary Cooper's (his last film) character was witness to a murder while working late in his office one night and that his wife (Deborah Kerr in a really bad performance) suspected that he did it.
I believe that there was just no comparing this film to "Psycho" that it didn't even make "Psycho"'s shock grade, except maybe for the murder scene at the very beginning.
I don't know if Gary Cooper was ill at the time of the shooting but his performance is very wooden and lifeless.
This was easily one of the worst films I have sat all the way through.While Gary Cooper and Deborah Kerr did the best they could with a repetitive, unimaginative script, the two stars lacked chemistry which didn't help.Further holding back the film was the laughable music, an early instance of music telling people exactly what to think, feel and expect.The directing was uninspired, etc.
When the film begins, George Radcliffe (Gary Cooper) is in court testifying in a murder case.
Another man is subsequently convicted of the murder and the story jumps ahead several years.
Well, instead of going to the police like any sane woman, she whines and way, way overacts for the entire rest of the film and I don't think I've ever seen Deborah Kerr more shrill and awful.
The problem is that NOTHING IS HAPPENING in these scenes and the music is totally inappropriate!!!"The Naked Edge" could have been a very good film.
No, the problem is something that I would pin on three things...and sadly, it's Gary Cooper's last film and he deserved better.With different music and a different actress (or different direction) it could have easily earned an 8 or possibly a 9.
Gary Cooper's swan song gives Deborah Kerr the chance to shine.
Those who think Gary Cooper (who might well have suspected his days were numbered as he'd just undergone an op for prostate cancer) turns in less than his usual powerful performance are incorrect in my view.
True, his role lumbers him with having to respond to his wife's perfectly reasonable suspicions in a way that is consistently ambiguous, and one might argue he feels hurt that he should have to explain his innocence to someone who should trust him implicitly, so he's purposely evasive — except he's already argued against that very position early in the film, accepting that sometimes one can demand proof even where convention dictates it shouldn't be necessary.
The obvious conclusion is that it was a plot device to keep him firmly in the frame for the murder throughout.Yes, the music is rather blaring and obvious at times - a common feature of British thrillers in the '50s/'60s.
Perhaps the style was what was ordered, and not entirely of his own choosing.This is a must-see for fans of Gary Cooper and of Deborah Kerr, who here is both radiantly beautiful, and effective in her role.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie which, like many Hitchcock films, has some creaky moments and plot inconsistencies, but certainly keeps the tension going right to the end..
***** Mild Spoilers Ahead  *****"The Naked Edge" is the last film that the famous American actor Gary Cooper was in, wrapping up a career which lasted for over thirty years.In "The Naked Edge", Gary Cooper portrays a business man who has been accused, but acquitted of murder.
His wife(Deborah Kerr) opens a letter which contains blackmail threats against her husband.
Her husband is aware of her conclusion and it begins to look as if he may kill her too!Deborah Kerr, as usual, delivers a terrific performance.
Gary Cooper does his best with the dialogue and the role he is given, but it isn't enough to make this film believable to the discerning viewer.
The dialogue between the characters is contrived to leave every situation open to the possibility that Gary Cooper is the murderer.
The film would have turned out better if the director would have been stabbed instead of the victim in the movie!
It's not nice to patronize your audience when you are making a serious mystery or suspense film.
It's too bad, because both principal actors, Deborah Kerr and Gary Cooper deserved better.
Let's just say it takes melodramatic background music in a film to new lows.It's a shame I can't give this movie a better review because I so wanted to like it.
Thankfully, the superb acting talents of Deborah Kerr and Gary Cooper can be seen in many other great movies which they starred in.
The plot was interesting and intelligent, and I am glad Gary Cooper turned out to be the good guy after all!
Deborah Kerr was beautiful, ladylike and stylish and with that kind, innocent quality, as always.I like movies about moral questions, that make me think "what would I have done?".
Today I would probably have turned a blind eye, kept quiet, not risked the good life I had finally achieved (or rather: that my husband had achieved for me), and the life with the man I loved.
The film stars Gary Cooper, Deborah Kerr, Diane Cilento, Ray McAnally, Peter Cushing and Eric Portman.This is a cracking thriller, filled with plenty of tension and good performances.
The film struck me as being very similar to Hitchcock's Suspicion, focusing on the wife beginning to doubt her husband and fear for own safety a little.George Radcliffe(Gary Cooper)witnesses a murder and robbery.
Donald Heath(Ray McAnally)is arrested for the crime, he strongly insists that he is innocent but at the end of the trial he is found guilty and sent to prison.Some time later Radcliffe's wife Martha(Deborah Kerr)receives a blackmail letter which claims George was the killer.
Up until the final scene we're not sure just how innocent or guilty George is and that adds to the suspense and tension the film builds up.
Cooper plays the character in a way that you can see guilt if you look for it, you can also see innocence too and you're never entirely sure what to make of him.Cooper and Kerr are excellent, I think it's a real shame that they never made other films together.
Diane Cilento is very good as the wife of Heath, she knows her man is innocent and will stand by him no matter what, she believes George is the real killer.
Eric Portman is creepy as the mysterious blackmailer.I think the music spoils the film, it is much too loud and intrusive in scenes where music wasn't needed.
A visually elegant psychological mystery thriller, with stylish direction by Michael Anderson, an intelligent script by Joseph Stefano, and strong performances by two acting legends, Gary Cooper and Deborah Kerr.
William Alwyn's music almost turn the story into a parody of a suspense movie -- "The Naked Gun" rather than "The Naked Edge." It's awful.But it's concordant with the direction by Michael Anderson.
All this, and more, foments uncertainty in the mind of his wife, Deborah Kerr, who -- and I hate to use this expression -- is as lovely as she's ever been.
Cooper began spending money to buy property a year after the murder and theft.
Anyone could understand my account, despite the rusty stains of dried blood and the gloss of vulgar expressions.The performances are professional enough, although it's difficult to watch someone like Gary Cooper acting not just like a murderer but like a particularly dumb one.
** A silly film - but being an ardent admirer of Deborah Kerr please be warned of my total biased feelings towards her **.
Other than that she gives her best of what there is of the film - including being married to the usual wooden unsmiling Gary Cooper which was a silly movie-miss-match in my opinion, almost as silly as his 'marriage' to Grace Kelly in 'High Noon'.
As Ms Kerr oozes class Gary Cooper looks lost without his shred of straw dangling from his mouth.