Mirage

This is a terrific film well done from all aspects. The use of flashbacks are a great touch as an amnesiac, played by Gregory Peck, desperately tries to figure out his predicament and piece together the last 2 years of his life. Matthau is great, as always, as the PI trying to help him out. The scenes in the Psychiatrist's office alone are worth the effort to see this film.

Sharing not a passing resemblance to The Manchurian Candidate from three years before, this is a sadly neglected thriller that would have been a classic if the director's credit read Hitchcock instead of someone HUAC blacklisted at the time. It couldn't have been any better too, with Hitch involved. There's really nothing the movie sets out to do that it doesn't do pretty damn well. The fights are clumsy and 15 years too old-fashioned, like something taken from a film-noir and edited in the same awkward fashion, but other than that the movie is a rousing success. Dmytryk's career took a massive blow after the fifties and his decision to finally cooperate in order to be released from prison earned him the contempt of subsequent Hollywood people, but a good ten years later, the director of still had it in him to deliver a stonecold classic with Murder My Sweet.

Gregory Peck is David Stillwell, an accountant working for a NYC firm who realizes he can't remember anything from his life the past two years. The movie opens in a blacked-out skyscraper where he meets with a mysterious young woman who seems to know him. She then disappears in the subbasements of the building. When he searches for these basements the next morning, they're not there. That's just a taste of the hallucinatory mindgames the film has in order for the viewer.

Wisely photographed in clear black and white, with an intriguing premise and plot that will have fans of conspiracy thrillers salivating at the prospect of paranoid twists and turns, this is a minor gem that deserves to be rediscovered from the cracks it slipped through. There is a plot hole regarding these basements and where they really are after all but if we accept the psychological explanation of Peck's condition (it's only a movie after all), it's a smooth ride. The multiple flashbacks of the ending and the way Dmytryk handles them is something to see.

Contrary to what the previous person wrote, the first 10 minutes do not give away the story! Why would they, this is a thriller, not an instructional film.

But more importantly, you will miss this film's "signature" shot of a man falling from the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper! The previous reviewer couldn't know this because... he missed the first 10 minutes!

Since IMDb requires me to write "10 lines," I'll go on to say, that after seeing this movie you will never think of cost accountants the same way again... as if you think about them now...

--Gary

I rented this in honor of Walter Matthau - and he was the liveliest part of this film - the screen really came alive when he was on screen. I love Greg Peck - but he was pretty low key in the part, maybe a little too much so. Diane Baker was quite good - her career was really on an upswing when she made this film - wonder why she didn't become a bigger star.

Definitely an entertaining movie - with some nice twists and turns to keep you interested all the way to the end.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, this film shows Gregory Peck suffering from amnesia and he soon learns it's a life and death situation. He tries to recover his memory before those who are trying to kill him succeed. He tries to make sense of it all. I found it exceedingly difficult to stay with it because there seemed to be no ending, but wait!! What a way to go to recover what happened and why! The film takes place in New York, and the acting and music are sure winners! Walter Mathau, Diane Baker, Kevin McCarthy, Walter Abel all show great intensity in feeling and emotion. 7/10