Mirage (1965)

Shortly after a New York skyscraper has a blackout, a world famous humanitarian (Walter Abel) plunges to his death from the 24th floor and an accountant (Gregory Peck) on the same floor emerges from his office with amnesia. A beautiful woman (Diane Baker) he meets on the stairs knows him but he doesn't remember her and she disappears as suddenly as she appeared and people he doesn't know keep pointing guns at him and demanding information so in desperation he hires a detective (Walter Matthau) to help him find his identity. This modest B&W Hitchcockian (but without Hitchcock's subtext) thriller is a first rate suspenser. Directed by Edward Dmytryk (CROSSFIRE) with a clever screenplay by Peter Stone who wrote the marvelous CHARADE two years earlier, the film moves swiftly along which is a good thing as it doesn't give us the time to dwell on some minor loopholes. Peck did the amnesia thing with Hitchcock 20 years earlier in SPELLBOUND but this time he's more relaxed in front of the camera. It's the kind of film where you might forget the details as months go by but still remember the compelling feeling you got. A nice score by Quincy Jones. With Kevin McCarthy, Jack Weston, George Kennedy, Leif Erickson, Anne Seymour and Robert H. Harris.