The Naked Edge (1961)

An American businessman (Gary Cooper) in London is the sole witness to the robbery and murder of his employer. It's upon his testimony that a clerk (Ray McAnally) is convicted and sent to prison for life. But after intercepting a blackmail letter, Cooper's wife (Deborah Kerr) begins to suspect that her husband is the killer and that it was the robbery money that set him up in a successful business. As she investigates, she becomes more and more convinced of her suspicions. Based on the novel FIRST TRAIN TO BABYLON by Max Ehrlich, adapted for the screen by Joseph Stefano (PSYCHO) and directed by Michael Anderson (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS). The film recalls Hitchock's SUSPICION, the 1941 thriller in which Joan Fontaine suspects hubby Cary Grant is a murderer and she, his next victim. Like the Hitchcock film which titillated us with the idea of Cary Grant as a murderer, EDGE plays with us, using Cooper's stalwart honest all American persona as the mask of a possible cold blooded killer. Alas, it's to no avail. The film is extremely talky with very little suspense until the very end but even that is diluted as we know the real killer's identity by then. Marlon Brando's father was one of the film's producers. With Diane Cilento, Hermione Gingold, Michael Wilding, Eric Portman and Peter Cushing.