See No Evil

Blind lady in peril. Audrey Hepburn did the same sort of thing four years earlier in Wait Until Dark, which was based on a stage play. That one worked even better than this one (though this one is quite good) because of the real menace generated by Alan Arkin as the bad guy. We get to know who he is fairly early on in the movie.

This one takes an opposite tack. We don’t discover who it is that has been killing people until the very end. Before that, we see only his distinctive cowboy boots. Keeps us guessing. The movie is constructed very well indeed. Mia Farrow leaves the house where she is staying with her aunt and uncle and young cousin, and when she comes back they have all been murdered. And she is totally unaware of it, all through the night and into the next day. Low camera angles and other visual tricks heighten the tension nicely, and we don’t see the corpses for a long, long time, even though we know they are there. So we’re left to wonder, how long before she discovers them, and what the hell will she do when she does? She is smart, and resourceful, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re stranded out in an open field with no idea if it’s miles or only a few yards to safety. One of the better thrillers, I think.