Five Miles To Midnight (1962)

Shortly before he is to leave on a business trip to Casablanca, a wife (Sophia Loren) tells her emotionally unstable husband (Anthony Perkins) that she wants a divorce. But his plane crashes with no survivors. Until the husband suddenly turns up after his funeral and terrorizes her into collecting the insurance money on her "dead" husband and he'll disappear from her life forever ..... but will he? Directed by Anatole Litvak (THE SNAKE PIT). What a great title! Litvak is not Hitchcock and he never manages to get a rhythm going and he allows Perkins to overact shamelessly. At this stage of his career, Perkins' superb performance in PSYCHO had made him the go to actor for psychotic characters. Fortunately, Loren is appealing enough that we care what happens to her and that is enough to keep our interest sustained. Alas, the film's downbeat finale doesn't allow us the catharsis most thrillers provide which might explain why it wasn't a hit. Then there's that obtrusive Mikis Theodorakis score to contend with. With Gig Young, Jean Pierre Aumont and Yolande Turner.