Stop Me Before I Kill! (1960) User Reviews

Forgotten Gem from the Great Val Guest

[Gordon-M · 7/10 · 8 May 2005]

Still recovering from serious head injuries sustained in a car crash, motor racing driver Alan Colby and his wife Denise go on holiday to the South of France. There, Alan is suddenly and unexpectedly struck with a compulsion to strangle his wife. Hearing about this, Dr. David Prade, a local psychiatrist, offers to help, but his offer is rejected by Alan and he and Denise return to London. The psychiatrist follows them there, convinced that sooner or later his services will be needed and that he should be close at hand. At first, all seems well with Alan, but then one morning he wakes from a long sleep to find that Denise has disappeared. Worse, all the evidence points to his having murdered her.

Beautifully filmed in black-and-white MegaScope by the great Gil Taylor and masterfully directed by Guest, who was always at his best working on suspense films, "The Full Treatment" is a minor classic.

Confusing and hard to believe, but entertaining...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 14 May 2011]

"Stop Me Before I Kill" is a rather entertaining but often flawed film. And, if you can look past its flaws, it will probably be worth your time. The film starts with a race car driver getting in a terrible accident. Months later, he comes out of a coma and appears to be recovering quite nicely. However, he's obviously suffering psychological after-effects--he's on edge, moody and sullen. What's worse, he then tries to strangle his wife--on several occasions! With the help of a psychiatrist and some dubious analytic psychiatry, the man tries to work out why he's got this homicidal urge. But, there are some BIG twists...

Despite an excellent ending that makes this all worth while, here are a few problems with the plot. First, although he has tried several times to kill his wife, she stays with him and doesn't contact the police. Duh! Then, you notice that the race car driver's wife goes from being Italian to being French--her accent and language are a bit malleable! Also, the real reason for all this homicidal behavior is too obvious--there are too many clues to this and the film doesn't give the viewer many other options to consider. Still, it works well enough despite all this, though it's hardly a classic.

Not bad, but still lesser Hammer.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 20 August 2016]

At 108 minutes, the Hammer production "Stop Me Before I Kill!" is one of the longest movies that they made. It's a rather meaty story, and serves as a major showcase for three of its main actors, but isn't that satisfying overall. Written by producer & director Val Guest and author Ronald Scott Thorn, based on the latters' novel "The Full Treatment", it tells of a British race car driver, Alan Colby (Ronald Lewis), and his lovely Italian wife Denise (Diane Cilento), vacationing in France some time after a bad traffic accident in which the other driver had died. Alan fears for his sanity, and is now worried that he may have developed homicidal intentions towards his wife. They make the acquaintance of an eminent French psychiatrist, David Prade (Claude Dauphin), who attempts to help Alan deal with his issues.

This could and should have been a little more involving, as the premise is not bad and it's entertaining enough in watching psychiatric methods being employed. But the script by Guest and Thorn is so heavily laden with dialogue that it barely gives the story (not to mention the actors) a chance to breathe. It does have some good dialogue, and starts to go for more interesting visuals in its final third. The on location shooting, of course, is impeccable, which, along with the Megascope photography, helps to make the picture pleasant enough to look at. (To say nothing of sexy blonde Cilento). Dauphin, Cilento, and Lewis are all fine, and they're ably supported by Francoise Rosay as Prades' mother, and Bernard Braden as Colby's friend Harry. The filmmaking is pretty slick; it's just too bad that the scenario can't generate more suspense.

Certainly worth a look for devoted Hammer followers, but not one of their best.

Six out of 10.

A different Hammer movie, but will really try your patience

[Wizard-8 · 28 May 2017]

"Stop Me Before I Kill" (a.k.a. "The Full Treatment") is the rare 1960s Hammer movie to not showcase a monster, or for that matter a truly horrific element. This fact probably explains a lot as to why the movie is obscure today, but I think the main reason for the movie being forgotten is that it's not all that good. It's not a terrible movie, let me make clear. Director Val Guest occasionally puts in some eye catching direction, and the movie is never boring. However, the movie gets VERY close to being labelled boring. At one hundred and seven minutes in length, the movie is much too padded out. The first two-thirds of the movie in no way had to be as long as they are here. Things do pick up slightly in the last half hour, but by then it's far too late, especially since you'll be able to guess the so-called "surprise twists" that happen near the very end long before they happen, including the fate of the villain (it's telegraphed in the first part of the movie!) What the movie ends up being is something only for very patient people who have never seen a thriller before in their life, and I trust you are not such a person.

surprisingly good film and effective thriller

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 30 April 2018]

This is a surprisingly good film and effective thriller but someone should have advised writer/director Val Guest that it really was a little too long. Very simple to put right too, because it is clear there is just a little too much of the 'going crazy' scenes in the first half and maybe a little bit too drawn out and twisty an ending. Otherwise its great, I wasn't particularly one over by Ronald Lewis if effectively menacing at times, but Claude Dauphin is great and Diane Cilento marvellous in one of her finest roles. I enjoyed the premise and particularly the psychiatric scenes, bit surprised by the appearance of the CO2 canister, but overall very involving with plenty of changes in pace and scenery. Fifteen/twenty minutes snip and this would be far more successful. Shame.

"Stop blinding me with science!"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 26 October 2013]

Psychological thriller from producer-director Val Guest could perhaps use more thrills and less psychology. Racecar driver fights against getting psychiatric help after a road accident--which killed the other driver--has left him badly shaken; his spouse begs him to reconsider, particularly after she becomes the target of her husband's subconscious rage. Adaptation of Ronald Scott Thorn's novel "The Full Treatment" (the movie's alternate title), by Thorn and Guest, has some tart dialogue and solid performances, and looks great as photographed by Gilbert Taylor, but the midsection of the film is redundant. Guest turns the plot-screws with careful deliberation, but is too slow in getting this web untangled. **1/2 from ****

unrealized potential but still interesting

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 July 2016]

"Stop Me Before I Kill" or "The Full Treatment" is a 1960 film with a screenplay by Val Guest, who also directed.

The story concerns a famous race car driver, Alan Colby (Ronald Lewis), who was involved in a terrible car crash with his wife Denise (Diane Cilento). He is unable to race, and he and Denise go to the south of France on vacation.

Alan goes through swift mood shifts - the slightest word can set off his temper. And he keeps being tempted to strangle his wife - in fact, he nearly does a couple of times.

This, of course, is where one has to suspend belief because why the heck would she stay with someone who has attempted to strangle her and whose temper flares at the drop of a hat? I understand women in abusive situations, but I don't know, my husband trying to kill me takes it to a new level.

A psychiatrist they meet, Dr. David Prade (Claude Dauphin) offers to help. Alan is hesitant, but once back in London, where Prade has also returned, he agrees. At the end of the treatment, he feels that he is cured. He is able to get back on the racing track and has no temptation to hurt Denise.

Right before he is to leave for a race, Alan wakes up and finds that Denise is not there. In fact, all the evidence points to the fact that she has been murdered.

This was a very good story that suffered from an unbalanced script. The film went on too long, and the psychiatric scenes were endless. Diane Cilento is a beautiful and heartfelt Denise, Claude Dauphin is likable, and Ronald Lewis for me lacked subtlety in a difficult role. A good-looking man, in the beginning of the film, he reminded me of David Hasselhoff; fortunately, the resemblance faded somewhat.

Sadly Ronald Lewis committed suicide in 1982, bankrupt and his career in the doldrums.

In other hands and a bigger budget, this could have been an excellent film. However it's worth seeing for the story.

A Pretty Good Mystery-Drama

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 9 January 2016]

'Stop Me Before I Kill' is AKA 'The Full Treatment'. Both titles seem to fit this film quite well.

A race car driver is in an accident and spends time in a coma, once he is awake he has the strange urge to kill his wife. His wife seeks help from a psychiatrist to help her husband overcome his urge and to find out why this is suddenly happening.

The ending of this film seem appropriate - very befitting. I will not give it away for those who have not seen the film and would like to.

This is not a bad mystery-drama - it's pretty good. No movie is "perfect" - they all have a few flaws and this one is no exception. The flaws in this film are minor.

All movies are hard to fathom - you have to suspend your beliefs to watch any movie. With this film you will have to do the same thing as with any film.

All in all a pretty good film. I enjoyed watching it.

7/10

There's a lot to like about this movie, but I didn't really enjoy it.

[lemon_magic · 5/10 · 10 February 2017]

I think I would have enjoyed this story better if I'd read the novel it is based on ("The Full Treatment") or as a radio drama play that trimmed down the extraneous elements and didn't exhaust my patience the way this movie does. The story had promise (in spite of a psychological premise that hasn't aged well since 1960), but in the end the director and the writer couldn't quite make it work.

There is some excellent stuff here and there - I think that the opening shot that pulls back from a car radio playing a happy tune to seamlessly reveal a scene of disaster and carnage is good enough to redeem the problems with the remaining 2 hours of screenplay. But there's an awful lot to get through in the next 2 hours, and a lot of it is a slog.

I've liked Ronald Lewis since I saw his role as the chauffeur in another Hammer production, "Scream of Fear!", and I when I saw that he was going to be prominently featured in this one, I was looking forward to seeing him stretch out. But his character is high-strung and unlikeable (even though it seems that his terrible behavior is caused by what we would now call "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder") and sometimes the director can't get him off the screen fast enough for me. Lewis is out there front and center, chewing the scenery in a thankless role and I can't help but wonder if this picture damaged his career, or at least slowed it down some.

The other problem, of course, is that the whole "repressed memories leading to murder" thing has lost most of its credibility over the decades, sapping some of the drama and energy from the proceedings on screen. As this tale of psychodrama among the jet-set spins out, the thought kept intruding - "This has nothing to say to my life". Oddly, that never comes up in "Scream Of Fear!", possibly because the heroine is a "poor little rich girl" who is wheelchair bound and seemingly fragile.

But the black and white photography is crisp.There are some great visual setups (oddly, the driving scenes are the least convincing scenes in the movie, ironic considering the Lewis' character is a race car driver). Diane Cilantro is adorable and a pleasure to simply behold (although her character is missing from the middle third of the movie).And there is a fascinating contribution from Francois Rosay who is on screen for maybe 5 minutes altogether, but who pulls the final climax together with a wordless performance that is in some ways the strongest in the movie.

So, did I like it? Not nearly as much as the similar "Scream Of Fear!". Did the movie have a lot of things to redeem the problems with the plot and the unlikeable protagonist? You bet.

"Stop Me Before I Kill"!!!...

[kidboots · 7/10 · 3 June 2013]

....says an agitated Allan Colby to sinister psychiatrist Dr. Prade. It is a very flimsy story for it's length (almost 2 hours!!) with a lot more questions being left unanswered than answered!! Why was Diane Cilento given an accent, why couldn't they have left her as a sultry British girl (maybe there wasn't such a thing as a sultry English girl in 1960 - but what about Joan Greenwood or Shirley Ann Field!!). And while Cilento was attractive, she wasn't really the type who would send a strait laced doctor into a spin - maybe it was her nude swim!!!

The film starts at the scene of a horrific accident involving ace racing car driver Allan Colby, his new bride Denise and, as we learn later, a truck driver who dies at the scene. Next scene shows that after a year in and out of hospital Colby and Denise are on the continent on a belated honeymoon but something is not right. Colby is often agitated, finding offense at the smallest thing - even punching Dr. Prade who has invited them for dinner at his water front villa. Of course Colby is contrite the next morning but not before he has tried to strangle Denise for the second time. Denise has stayed behind to talk to the doctor while Colby has sped off in his car that the day before he could not drive over 30 mph!! Prade notices the bruising around her throat and more than ever wants to put his plan into action - watching her take a nude swim complete with binoculars doesn't strike one as the actions of a trust worthy doctor.

I was actually expecting the denouement to be that he wasn't a doctor after all but the rest of the movie focused on his artful plan of trying to prove to Denise that Conrad is highly dangerous and needs to be locked up and to convince Conrad that he has actually gone through with his grisly plan to kill his wife and dispose of the body.

Again Cilento's dodgy accent didn't help, first Italian then French, finally she suggest that they both go home to England!! Added to the fact that Colby's behaviour is so erratic and dangerous but no police are called!! The film does boast a couple of stellar French names - Claude Dauphine from the theatre and the legendary Francoise Rosay as the dignified Madame Prade.

So-so Hammer thriller

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 28 May 2010]

Brusque, high-strung, and short-tempered race car driver Alan Colby (a solid and credible performance) is trying to recover from a serious head injury. Alan and his loyal wife Denise (winningly played by the sultry Diane Cilento) go on vacation to the South of France for some much needed rest and relaxation. But Alan is having trouble resisting his more violent impulses. Suave local psychiatrist David Prade (a smooth portrayal by Claude Dauphin) offers to help Alan out. Director Val Guest, who also co-wrote the overly talky script with Ronald Scott Thorn, unfortunately allows the uneventful story to plod along at a very slow pace and fails to generate much in the way of either tension or excitement. The key problem with this film is that nothing much happens; it's basically just a handful of people yakking up a storm for an overlong hour and forty-eight minutes. The capable cast do their best with the bland material, but their competent acting can't completely alleviate the general tedium. Moreover, the pretty obvious and predictable conclusion fails to deliver the goods as well. On the plus side, both the lovely Cilento and the French scenery look absolutely gorgeous while Gilbert Taylor's sharp black and white widescreen cinematography and Stanley Black's swinging jazzy score are up to speed. Passable, but overall a really blah and unmemorable picture.

Suspend Your Disbelief and Just Watch It for the Acting

[joe-pearce-1 · 8/10 · 8 September 2015]

Before addressing the acting, which I regard as uniformly superb throughout, I should add my agreement with several other reviewers that there are several scenes in this film that are simply repetitive, so that it might have been more effective with about 15 or 20 minutes cut out of it. However, it is still highly effective as is, due to the acting of four of the five principals, those being Diane Cilento, Ronald Lewis, Claude Dauphin and Bernard Braden. The fifth, the damned-near immortal Francoise Rosay is fine, but really contributes little to the film from an acting standpoint; she simply has little to do and nothing to act. It's the kind of role that in an American film would have been given to Argentina Brunetti or Celia Lovsky!

I'd never heard of this movie before - surprisingly, since I am a devotee of British film and acting from all periods and because this is, at least in the three leading roles, an impressive cast listing. I thought Cilento's accent was just fine throughout (if I didn't know her from anything else, I would never have thought of her as coming from Down Under); to me, it sounded Italian, but she uses a lot of French phrases and speaks French to others (the film takes place in France and England), so maybe that has confused other reviewers. The character's first name, "Denise", certainly sounds French rather than Italian, but that doesn't mean too much in a world where we have a noted Irish operatic baritone named Bruno Caproni! As with everything I've ever seen her in, Cilento is wonderful throughout, and very sexy in both voice and aspect. She beautifully captures both the character's love for, and fright of, her seemingly demented husband. Claude Dauphin was a pretty famous actor on both sides of the Atlantic at this time, and this is by far the best outing I have seen from him in an English-language film. I used to find him fairly hard to understand in our language, but not so in this one - and he has some really difficult dialogue (lots of it, and much of it replete with scientific jargon) to get through. He captures the psychiatrist's intelligence, egotism and kindness throughout, yet we are aware that there may be more to him than he shows on the surface. As for Ronald Lewis, I could never understand why he never became anything like an international star. He was a very good actor, with a resonant voice and wide emotional range, both very handsome and very macho (like good old George O'Brien, somebody always got him to remove his shirt in the course of a movie), and quite volatile as both villains and heroes - kind of like a visual and emotive cross between Stephen Boyd and Kirk Douglas. (This may have carried over to his personal life, as he did commit suicide when only 53.) Anyway, this is a very difficult role to play convincingly and he does it about as well as can be imagined (in fact, in this film he really did remind me of Stephen Boyd). A bit of a surprise is Bernard Braden, a Canadian actor with whom I was almost totally unfamiliar, but who plays an old friend of Lewis's who is about the only completely normal character in the film (Cilento is lovable, but hardly normal, unless one considers going to bed with someone you know may strangle you in the middle of the night to be normal), but he plays him extremely well and with a kind of of Everyman quality and lack of flair. Rosay, as I already said, is wasted here, but her English is actually less accented than is Dauphin's, perhaps reminding us that this most quintessentially French of French actresses did appear in a good number of English-language films during her long career.

With a few outdoor scenes deleted, this film could almost serve as a play for three major acting talents, so it is a bit 'talky', but the talk is pretty solid. Anyway, there is lots of emotional excess here and the actors are really up to it, and despite its overlong process in reaching a somewhat surprising, if well thought out, denouement, it maintains and builds interest and suspense throughout. It probably deserves a 6 rating, but being performance oriented, I give it an 8. If you enjoy watching good actors act, this is a film for you. Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy it.

Val Guest... Hammer's Thinking-Man's Director

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 24 November 2021]

For a lovely, talented Australian actress (who worked mostly in England), Diane Cilento made a horribly annoying French girl in an otherwise edgy, deliberately nerve-wracking film by director Val Guest working again for Hammer...

And THE FULL TREATMENT was retitled STOP ME BEFORE I KILL probably because it didn't sound... Hammery enough... but like Guest's HELL IS A CITY, it's not horror but neo noir...

And a slowburn Hitchcockian style thriller where the camera flows creatively within interior (and some exterior) spaces from several counties, winding up in the London apartment of determined shrink Dr. Prade...

Played by stout French character-actor Claude Dauphin, he's visually the polar opposite of tall, handsome British leading man Ronald Lewis as a race car driver who, psychologically damaged from a roadside accident, fulfills that spookier alternate title by, whenever passion ignites, attempting to strangle his blonde wife...

Not a reach since her shrieking fake-French accent is as unnerving as the deliberately frantic plot-line, which ultimately involves only the men going head-to-head through a mostly verbal TREATMENT that makes the racer fight for sanity, while the mystery remains on the doctor's underline motives...

He's resiliently helpful yet manipulative... with a touch of the sophisticated Bond villain (Diane Cilento was engaged to Sean Connery at the time) right down to a purring lap cat...

And, overall, for a flawed theatrical feature, Guest actually succeeds in bringing a visually page-turning stage play to life.

Up pops the psychiatrist

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 23 September 2014]

Stop Me Before I Kill has Ronald Lewis cast as a racing car driver just getting over serious head injuries that had him in a coma. For whatever reason he's got all kinds of thoughts in his head about strangling his beautiful wife Diane Cilento. As another reviewer pointed out her accent kind of changes from French to Italian as if she was trying for some kind of middle romance language ground. I think mastered the American accent quite well later on in Hombre. But that was a much better picture.

As they are on holiday in France up pops psychiatrist Claude Dauphin who lives with his mother Francoise Rosay. He follows them back to London when they leave. Right there that should have told anyone, even someone with homicidal fantasies that this guy has some issues.

I found it interesting several other reviewers while pointing out a lot of the flaws Stop Me Before I Kill still said they enjoyed the film. I found the whole thing hard to fathom with some characters I thought made no sense at all.

This one was not the best work for any of the cast.

Some Val Guest Flourishes but Overall Lengthy and Tedious

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 8 August 2017]

Obscure Hammer Psychological Thriller Written and Directed by Val Guest.

Suffering a Head Injury resulting from a Car Crash, a Race Car Driver (Ronald Lewis) Cannot Perform on His Honeymoon and on top or that is Haunted by a Lust to Kill His New Bride (Diane Cilento).

He has Black Outs and is Forever Fighting the Urge, and eventually seeks a Psychiatrist (Claude Dauphin), a Friend of His New Bride.

1960 saw a Trend in "Psycho" Pictures and Hammer joined in Immediately. This being a Val Guest Film there are a Number of Interesting Camera Flourishes and is a Fun Film to Watch.

But the Fun is Interrupted Frequently by Repetitive Scenes and some Mysterious Things that Astute Viewers won't find that Mysterious.

Good Acting from the International Cast but They bring Heavy Accents to the Dialog, and there is a Lot of Dialog, and it can become Wearisome. The Extended Length (107-120 min depending) Doesn't Help as the Story tends to Lumber and Stretch the Plot beyond its B-Movie Capacity to Sustain.

Overall, Worth a Watch, but Ultimately Talky, Heavy Handed and the Constant Changing Tone that is a Result of the Protagonist's Confusion and the Fighting and Making Up, Fighting and Making Up, becomes Tedious. It's Burdensome at times and tends to make the Movie more Irritating than Intriguing.

Sags A Bit, But Pulls Up Its Socks

[boblipton · 6/10 · 16 May 2023]

Race car driver Ronald Lewis was in a road accident with his French wife, Diane Cilentro; the driver of the truck involved was killed, and Lewis was injured. A year later, he is recovered enough to go to the Riviera with his wife. But he has changed emotionally. He's subject to sudden bursts of jealous anger and fantasies about strangling his wife. So when she is pleasant with psychiatrist Claude Dauphin, the fits come on. When they return to London, the cycle continues until Miss Cilento persuades Lewis to see Dauphin professionally.

Miss Cilento is always worth watching, and it's not solely because of her great beauty. It's Lewis who shines. He's quite believable as a man who can and and does turn violent over seeming trifles. I must admit that 110 minutes seemed to go on too long, and I thought the movie might have been cut a little closer; I was considering fast-forwarding three a bit of it at the 70-minute mark. I didn't, and figured out what was going to happen instead.

Director-coscripter Val Guest was better known for works like CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER and MR. DRAKE'S DUCK than psychological thrillers, so it wasn't surprising to me when this veered off into melodrama. Still, it's a nicely complicated little plot, and the lead trio are fine actors, making this a very pleasant movie.

Slow, but watchable

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 2 April 2023]

THE FULL TREATMENT (1960, aka STOP ME BEFORE I KILL!) is one of Hammer's earlier psycho-thrillers, made when they were still finding their feet with the genre. Certainly it lacks the intensity and finesse of a later film like A TASTE OF FEAR, which I regard as their finest hour in that genre. This one involves racing car driver Ronald Lewis who's in a terrible car accident and thereafter struggling with the urge to strangle his own wife...

While this is a typically well-made movie, the main problem it has is with the pacing. It goes on for nearly two hours and in the middle part in particular the plot really stalls with lots of detailed interrogations. Val Guest's direction is surprisingly good here, with some really nice inserts, but overall the result is tedium at times. However, the ending when it comes is a good one, and Lewis is a good enough performer to hold your attention through the slower moments.

Spellbound.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 12 November 2022]

The Frenchiest of Guest's movies;one of the principals and a supporting actress are legends of the golden age of the French cinema:Claude Dauphin and Françoise Rosay oddly cast as his mother (she's hardly 12 years his senior); half of the action takes place on the côte d'Azur,and there's a lot of Hugo 's language in the lines .

The main problem is that the movie is too slow moving and it is overlong (20 minutes could easily edited out); Hitchcock's influence is glaring :close shots on Diane Cilento's hair ,a la "vertigo" , strings which might be deadly weapons; the Mother-and-son couple is typically hitchcockian ,but unfortunately it is only skimmed over whereas much time is given over to repetitive scenes.

Although the ending is predictable , it's entertaining stuff , but suspense is not constant ; on the other hand ,the shrink who pretends to help the psychopath is a good idea , reversing the roles was not usual at the time .

He Needs Help.

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 21 November 2013]

Val Guest directed this psychological suspense yarn about a race car driver(played by Ronald Lewis) who is having huge stress issues after nearly cracking up in a car race. He takes his wife(played by Diane Cilento) on a trip to the South of France for a vacation, but is still plagued by stress and other psychological issues, so agrees to see a psychiatrist(played by Claude Dauphin) but complications ensue, as things(of course) are not all that they seem. Misfired attempt at suspense has a good cast but is fatally overlong and far too talky, with nothing in the story justifying this over-length, as film becomes quite tedious.

Much Ado About Very Little

[richardchatten · 4/10 · 12 January 2017]

Although its running time, foreign locations, widescreen photography by top British cameraman Gilbert Taylor and international cast mark this out as one of the more ambitious productions on Hammer's production slate for 1960, 'The Full Treatment' (to give it it's original British title) remains one of Hammer's most obscure productions; and you'll know why once you've seen it.

Directed for all its worth by the usually reliable Val Guest, you keep wondering where all this earnest talk about Ronald Lewis's psychological (and sexual!) problems is actually leading (his hair-trigger temper comes across more as boorishness than emotional turmoil), and waiting for evidence of some sort of diabolical plot to emerge to justify listening to all this talk.

The stunning Diane Cilento is amazing as usual, and fleetingly appears topless, but - oh dear! - that accent! Claude Dauphin has the most entertainingly written part, but the script's relentless determination to withhold the final 'twist' until absolutely the last possible moment simply tries the patience as various clues to upcoming plot developments - like the emphasis on the cable car - are sledge-hammered into the plot.

The final 'revelation' about the motivation of one of the main characters had been so obviously telegraphed that it came as an acute disappointment when it proved not to be the simple red herring I had hoped for, but the film's punchline.

Interesting Story of Psychological Trauma

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 8/10 · 7 October 2020]

This was another movie that I had never heard of until I was looking for horror movies from 1960. My goal here, with many of this older movies, is try to pair it a 2020 film for my Journey through the Aughts segment on the podcast that makes some sense. This was an interesting film though for the fact that it is an early Hammer film as well. The synopsis here is after surviving a traumatic car accident, a race car driver travels to the Cote D'Azur to recover but it plagued by an urge to strangle his wife.

We start this off with some upbeat jazz music and it is coupled with the reality of the horrible situation. There has been a car accident. Denise Colby (Diane Cilento) was thrown from the car, but she is fine aside from being dizzy. Her husband was driving and we see from an oil tanker that pulled off to help, he is a famous race car driver. His name is Alan (Ronald Lewis). This was also their wedding day and they were going off on their honeymoon.

The movie then gives us an interesting scene where a doctor and an insurance guy are talking about the events. Alan was cleared of all wrong-doing as it appears the truck driver was on the wrong side of the road. He passed away and they're going mostly off of the evidence at the crime scene and Denise's testimony. Alan's team he drives for is hoping after his honeymoon in Cannes, it will clear his head and he will be able to get back behind the wheel.

We then see the effects this accident had on Alan. He isn't able to drive currently. He has developed a pronounced fear and he is shaking. Denise is with him to encourage him to get over this fear. He is only able to go 3 kilometers before needing to pull off and for her to drive. She is trying to keep him from overdoing it. We also see another side effect of the accident. Alan is violent as he kisses his wife and chokes her, hard enough to leave a bruise.

Alan isn't one to take it easy though. He rides a lift from the hotel they're staying in to the beach and back up again. When he returns, his wife is with a David Prade (Claude Dauphin). Alan is prone to violent outbursts and he isn't fond of David. It is interesting though is that David finds his behavior 'refreshingly rude'. He invites the two over to a dinner party that night.

Back in the hotel room, Alan feels remorse for how he treated David and likes that he challenges him. It is then decided they'll go to his dinner party, for a little bit at least. Much to Alan's surprise, his friend Harry (Bernard Braden) is also in attendance. Things take a turn though when Alan once again gets agitated, causing him to strike David and then drive off into the night. He's able to overcome that issue, but he is still harboring the fear of hurting Denise. She learns that David is actually a psychiatrist and he really wants to help Alan. He isn't having it at first, but when they return to London, he relents. There are some odd methods of treatment used and the side effects might not be what Alan expects.

That's where I want to leave my recap for this movie. I'm actually intrigued that this movie isn't talked about more especially because of the concepts and aspects. I do think that some of the science behind some things isn't necessarily scientifically accurate. I'm able to suspend disbelief for some of it though, since this movie came in 1960.

The first thing that I want to delve into though is the character of Alan. He is a famous race car driver, but then he gets in the accident that has broken his psyche. What is interesting for this though is that he's blocked out the memory of what happened. He just knows that he was driving and what his wife has told him. At first, which I went over is that he is nervous to drive. The other side effect of this traumatic effect is that he wants to strangle his wife. Part of this is when he goes into a rage. What I like is what is revealed though as to why he has this obsession.

Alan seems like a good guy, but the real saint here is his wife, Denise. She is willing to do whatever it takes to help him. There does seem to be a bit more behind this as her brother was also a famous race car driver who died. From what I gathered, she met Alan the same day of this traumatic event for her of his passing. She does end up befriending Dr. Prade and she believes him when he tells her that he can help her husband. This is interesting here that Alan doesn't want his help, but I'm not surprised. Even today people don't like to seek help for their mental problems, especially men. Take this 60 years ago, I bet it is even worse.

David Prade does seem like a good guy, but about halfway through the movie I started to question his motives. I feel that his intentions for the most part are in the right place, but there was just something about him that I felt was off. I do wonder if some of the methods that he uses were real for the time period or not. It does seem plausible, but I haven't done the research to confirm it.

What really helps this movie though for me was the acting. I've delved into the characters themselves, but the actors behind the performance bring them to life. Dauphin really does seem like this doctor. I like that we aren't introduced to that until a bit after we've met him. He just at first seems like a bit eccentric older man who just likes interesting people. The more that you get to know him, the less I trust him. Cilento is such a sweetheart and takes on this role so well. I love her accent and everything she is trying to do to help her husband. Lewis is probably the best performance. He does annoy me sometimes, but I think a lot of that is how well he's playing it. He brings arrogance of being this famous driver and his fits of rage feel authentic as well. The rest of the cast rounded this out for what is needed.

Really there's not a whole lot else to delve into this movie. There aren't a lot of effects and it isn't that type of movie. The cinematography of the film is solid. There are some interesting camera angles and some effects that they use as well. The only other thing is that the soundtrack doesn't necessarily stand out, but I did like the jazz music that was used in the opening sequence. It sets the tone with how horrible that crash is and how upbeat the music is. I like what they did there.

Now with that said, this is a good movie and one that I think is under seen. There are some really interesting aspects to the movie with looking at mental health. The movie does have a reveal that I saw part of it coming, but it doesn't really hurt anything there. The acting of this really does help carry what they were going for. It never gets boring which is good. There aren't a lot in the way of effects, but it doesn't necessarily need them. They did some interesting thing with camera angles and effects with the soundtrack fitting for what was needed. I'd rate this as an above average movie that is just bordering on being good.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Far too long for its derivative script

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 4 October 2019]

Val Guest is not normally guilty of lack of pace but here he and the film are severely wanting.At 107 minutes this is 30 minutes too long.It seems as if there are two stories,the first ending at 1 hour,when the second takes over. The surprise is no real suprise because it is all so obvious. It is little surprise that this is film is totally forgotten by all save Hammer fans.

Terrible

[paolosecondo · 1/10 · 23 March 2021]

This is one of the worst movies I ever saw, and I saw thousands. The plot makes no sense at all, the acting is terrible, especially by Diane Cilento who speaks interchangeably, English, French and Italian. Parthetic. The only interesting aspect of this movie is the Riviera location, obviously before they started pouring cement over it. I would like to know the precise location of the of the beach house and the pristine bay.

no kill

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 7 May 2020]

After a devastating car accident, race car driver Alan Colby becomes obsessed with strangling his wife Denise. She is concerned about his mental instability. They go to Cote D'Azur to rest where she is befriended by psychiatrist Dr. David Prade but Alan refuses to get treatment.

The title is also called "Stop Me Before I Kill!" That shows its B-movie level. The acting has limitation as well as Diane Cilento's odd accent. It keeps suggesting some tension but it could never rise above a low simmer. The movie has few thrills. The other problem is that the couple's chemistry is always troubled and the audience has no rooting interest to keep them together. Alan is extremely melodramatic and Denise has her accent overacting. The evil Prade is the movie's saving grace but it's still only talk. The material has some higher potential but this is no more than a B-movie.