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The Full Treatment
Stop Me Before I Kill!
UK 1960
produced by Val Guest for Falcon Film, Hilary Productions, Hammer
directed by Val Guest
starring Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento, Ronald Lewis, Françoise Rosay, Bernard Braden, Katya Douglas, Barbara Chilcott, Ann Tirard, Edwin Styles, George Merritt
screenplay by Val Guest, Ronald Scott Thorn, based on the novel by Ronald Scott Thorn, music by Stanley Black
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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On his way to their honeymoon retreat with his lovely wife Denise
(Diane Cilento), race car driver Alan (Ronald Lewis) has a terrible
accident - but he can recover physically within a year. Mentally though,
it's another story altogether, as he, former daredevil on the racetrack,
panics as soon as he even sits behind the steering wheel. And whenever he
and Denise get only somewhat intimate, he feels an urge to strangle her
while being unable to perform in bed. And yet, Denise stands by him like a
rock. The couple travel to the Cote D'Azur, hoping the change of scenery
will help Alan - but rather the contrary is the case, he just finds more
things that upset him, especially a chance acquaintance, psychiatrist
Doctor Prade (Claude Dauphin), with whom he's unable to tell if he just
takes professional interest in his case, is challenging him on a more
personal level, or is actually lusting after his wife. Alan and Denise
leave for London rather abruptly, but once back she persuades him to
undergo treatment - with Doctor Prade. And the doctor does a pretty good
job, too, using pretty much every tool available, from hypnosis to dream
analysis, to help Alan remember pretty much every little detail that led
to his car accident back when, and also uncovers how this has to do with
his urge to strangle Denise. Eventually, just before Alan wants to make
his comeback as a race driver, Prade pronounces him cured. But the next
morning, Alan wakes up in his bed with Denise gone but traces all over the
apartment that he has killed and dismembered her. Doctor Prade arrives and
offers to have Alan admitted to an institution before calling the police,
as it will help him at his trial. However, already on the way to the
institution, Alan tricks Prade into having an accident and makes a getaway
to the Cote D'Azur, where a friend (Bernard Braden) gives him, a murderer
on the run, abode. Thing is, there's nothing about the murder or about his
getaway in the newspapers, which strikes him very odd and convinces the
friend that Alan has been had. Then, totally unexpectedly, Alan catches a
glance of Denise, follows her, and finds himself at Prade's seaside home.
It turns out Prade has lured her here, allegedly for her own mental
well-being but his mother (Barbara Chilcott) reveals to her how fond he is
of her. Confronted by Alan, Prade tries to convince him he's delusional,
and the episode where he thought he had killed Denise had happened only in
his head, and he does a pretty good job, too, so much so that Alan wants
to give himself up to his doctor - when Denise finds evidence that Alan's
story was very much true, and that he has been set up by Prade to believe
himself to be a murderer ... Even if the premise is a little
far fetched, this is actually a pretty effective psycho thriller that from
its opening pan that starts at a car radio playing upbeat music and then
reveals the scene of a car accident unravels a game of deception that
might give its game away a little too early, but despite that stays tense
and suspenseful throughout thanks to a very elegant directorial effort,
well fleshed out and relatable characters, and a very strong cast, all of
which make this an a bit under-appreciated gem of suspense cinema.
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