Ira Levin’s novel was always going to be tricky to adapt because you couldn’t do the great twist of finding out the murderer and boyfriend are the same person – but they did try to be faithful, and the biggest change (removing one of the daughters) I think works as otherwise it would have been repetitive. They come up with a good substitute – have Robert Wagner kill off another boyfriend of his dead ex during act two.
Wagner gives one of his best performances here – his looks were a little too pointy or something to be effective as a hero (says I anyway) but they suit villainy and he’s very effective. The female leads aren’t much – even Joanne Woodward over-emotes in 50s style – but there is novelty in seeing Jeffrey Hunter play a glasses-wearing intellectual.
It’s a shame the climax takes place in the desert as opposed to a factory like the book.
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