Five Miles to Midnight
1962 film by Anatole Litvak
- 12 December 1962 (1962-12-12) (France)
Running time
Five Miles to Midnight (French: Le Couteau dans la plaie, literally The Knife in the wound) is a 1962 Franco-Italian international co-production drama film produced and directed by Anatole Litvak. It starred Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins. It was produced through Filmsonor S.A., Dear Film Produzione and Mercury, and distributed by United Artists.
Plot
Immediately after Lisa (Loren) declares that she is leaving her immature, abusive, but easy-going husband Robert (Perkins), he is reported dead in a plane crash. Secretly still alive, he convinces her to collect his life insurance, although she knows that it's a bad idea. Lisa must contend with the complications of the scheme, which involve an aggressive suitor (Gig Young), Robert's jealousy, and her own guilt.
Eventually the stress of putting up with Robert is too much for Lisa, and she runs over him and disposes of the body and car in a lake. The suitor realizes what she did as she has a mental breakdown and calls the police.
The film takes place primarily in Paris. Lisa is Italian; Robert is American.
Cast
- Sophia Loren as Lisa Macklin
- Anthony Perkins as Robert Macklin
- Gig Young as David Barnes
- Jean-Pierre Aumont as Alan Stewart
- Yolande Turner as Barbara Ford
- Tommy Norden as Johnny
- Pascale Roberts as The Streetwalker
- Mathilde Casadesus as Mme. Duval the Concierge
- Billy Kearns as Captain Wade
Production
The film was directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Litvak and Louis Wipf from a screenplay by Peter Viertel and Hugh Wheeler with dialogue by Maurice Druon, based on an idea by André Versini. The musical score was written by Mikis Theodorakis for the film, which also includes music by Jacques Loussier and Giuseppe Mengozzi. The cinematography was by Henri Alekan.
The film stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, with Gig Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Yolande Turner, and Tommy Norden.[1]
Reception
Dilys Powell in The Sunday Times dismissed it as "a pretty glum experience".[2] Patrick Gibbs in The Daily Telegraph called it "silly and stuffy".[3]
References
- ^ "Five Miles to Midnight". afi.com. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
- ^ Powell, Dilys (14 April 1963). "Anatomy of Southern Violence". The Sunday Times. No. 7300. p. 33.
- ^ Gibbs, Patrick (13 April 1963). "Women in Black". The Daily Telegraph. No. 33584. p. 11.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Five Miles to Midnight (film).
- Five Miles to Midnight at IMDb
- Five Miles to Midnight at AllMovie
- Five Miles to Midnight at the TCM Movie Database
- Five Miles to Midnight at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Five Miles to Midnight at Rotten Tomatoes
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Films directed by Anatole Litvak
- Dolly Gets Ahead (1930)
- Calais-Dover (1931)
- No More Love (1931)
- Lilac (1932)
- The Song of Night (1932)
- Tell Me Tonight (1932)
- The Old Devil (1933)
- One Night's Song (1933)
- Sleeping Car (1933)
- The Crew (1935)
- Mayerling (1936)
- The Woman I Love (1937)
- Tovarich (1937)
- The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
- The Sisters (1938)
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
- Castle on the Hudson (1940)
- All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
- City for Conquest (1940)
- Out of the Fog (1941)
- Blues in the Night (1941)
- This Above All (1942)
- The Nazis Strike (1943)
- Divide and Conquer (1943)
- The Battle of Russia (1943)
- The Battle of China (1944)
- War Comes to America (1945)
- The Long Night (1947)
- Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
- The Snake Pit (1948)
- Decision Before Dawn (1951)
- Act of Love (1953)
- The Deep Blue Sea (1955)
- Anastasia (1956)
- Mayerling (1957)
- The Journey (1959)
- Goodbye Again (1961)
- Five Miles to Midnight (1962)
- The Night of the Generals (1967)
- The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970)
