Shedding light on a dark thriller

The plot machinations may be far too convoluted and the implausibilities are numerous, but somehow Wait Until Dark works -at least on a very primal level that satiates our appetite for suspense. Here are the conclusions our CineVerse group reached on this late sixties nail-biter:

CAN YOU IDENTIFY ANY PROMINENT THEMES SUGGESTED IN WAIT UNTIL DARK?

• Vision and the ability to see perceptively, despite appearances: consider how intuitive and observant Suzy and Roat are; the former is truly blind, while the latter hides behind dark sunglasses.  Also, Suzy’s husband doesn’t see what threatens his wife until nearly the very end, even though he has his site.

• Double meanings: in this film there are two heroines that propelled the plot; a female heroin whom we identify with, and a narcotic heroin that remains mostly out of sight.  There are also two “dolls”—Suzy, an attractive female, and the inanimate toy plaything and she is supposedly harboring.

• Appearances are not what they seem: Suzy would appear to be a pitiable, helpless blind woman, but she actually proves quite insightful and resourceful; Roat wears disguises and it proves to be a sadistic psychopath, not just a petty criminal or drug dealer. 

• Cautionary fairy tales: there are remnants of frightening children’s stories found in this tale, including Little Red Riding Hood, and the Three Little Pigs, each of whom are threatened by wolves trying to gain entry.

• Female empowerment: writer John Lyden  interpreted both this movie and Dial M for Murder as “an expression of female rage against male aggression, as the woman refuses to be made a victim and is able to fight back effectively in the end.”

• Claustrophobia: Suzy’s apartment proves to be a dark, confining, entrapping space where the walls are closing in on her, as well as us, the viewers.  This is based partially on the fact that the source material is a stage play, which typically features minimal sets and settings.

• Turning a handicap into an advantage: Suzy levels the playing field by turning out the lights on her attacker.

• Reviewer Eric Henderson wrote: “Like similar psychological thrillers ruminating on the theme of urban isolation and loneliness, Wait Until Dark manages to create a paradoxical environment of civilization devoid of human life. The apartment building Suzy lives in is perpetually empty; Suzy's husband, Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), leaves her on her own for most of the day, and the dorky young girl upstairs is apparently motherless most of the time. Also, Young makes the smart decision of setting his thriller inside a basement apartment, the cave-like arches of which have the unsettling effect of positioning Hepburn in a nondescript underground (the windows only look out on the feet of passersby, emphasizing Suzy's disconnect from her neighborhood).”

WAIT UNTIL DARK HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS THE BEST HITCHCOCK MOVIE THAT ALFRED HITCHCOCK DIDN’T DIRECT.  HOW IS THIS FILM LIKE A HITCHCOCK DIRECTED MOVIE?

• It features an attractive, icy cool, and intelligent female protagonist who is in danger 

• It includes a MacGuffin: in this case, the doll filled with heroin

• It employs knot-tightening suspense in its plot, pacing and directorial choices

• It uses symbolism and thematic elements to help tell its story, including the symbolism of dark glasses and blindness representing inability to see deeper and more perceptively beyond the obvious

• It mimics the stage bound settings of some Hitchcock thrillers, including Dial M for Murder, Rope, and Rear Window

WHAT OTHER FILMS ARE BROUGHT TO MIND AFTER VIEWING WAIT UNTIL DARK?

• Rear Window

• Gaslight

• Silence of the Lambs

• Sorry Wrong Number

• The Tenant

• The Seventh Victim

• Dial M for Murder

• Sleuth

OTHER PICTURES DIRECTED BY TERENCE YOUNG:

• Dr. No

• From Russia With Love

• Thunderball