Mervyn Le Roy's last movie as a director is a fairly unmemorable affair with some promising material badly executed. It is based on a story by Alec Coppel, and features many elements familiar from Coppel's work: a crime of passion, adultery, a shooting of a cad, disposing of the body, the body goes missing (Mr Denning Goes North in particular). The basic story of a neglected glamorous housewife who has a fling and goes on to regret it when the fling-ee turns psycho is solid: it worked in Fatal Attraction.
It's let down by Le Roy's uninspiring direction and the casting: Jean Seberg is pretty but completely bland in the lead role, one that required a Grace Kelly (Seberg can act well but her eyes are dead here, and she can't convey hidden passion). Honor Blackman overacts outrageously as her best friend. Arthur Hiller is accomplished as the husband but the role would have been better played by a star. Sean Garrison is alright as the passionate naval officer with whom Seberg has a one night stand.
The movie felt as though it needed 15 minutes cut out of it. Despite location filming it couldn't help appearing a bit bland and ugly - many Universal films of the 60s were like this, lacking genuine glamour. The handling needed to be more vigorous - Le Roy's output could be very ordinary and this falls in the debit column.
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