FEAR NO MORE (1961)

Personal secretary, Mala Powers, boards a train with an assignment from her boss, John Harding, to deliver an important letter. She is instantly accosted in her compartment by a man with a gun, then knocked unconscious. She is awakened by an assumed police officer who accuses her of murder, part of the weakest frame-up ever. It is going to be that kind of movie. There are many secrets in this film. In general, if you are gullible enough, they are revealed by the very end—assuming one can hold out for the full eighty minutes. This is strictly television fare—perhaps suspenseful—like a low-grade attempt to copy a less successful Hitchcock film. Some lavish praise on Powers' acting in this nightmare of improbable characters. I thought she was much better eight years earlier in City That Never Sleeps. I will say, I never doubted her character's six months in a mental hospital due to a nervous breakdown. Powers' repetitious, wide-eyed hysteria would seem to indicate she has issues. I find her over-acting captivating. Keeping tabs on who is or who should be a mental patient may be a task.

She appears to escape the clutches of the officer after the train stops and in total panic, is nearly run over by a 1960 Ford driven by Jacques Bergerac—Hollywood's worst fake French accent from an actual Frenchman. Michael Palin was just as good in that Holy Grail movie. His character is not well defined except we know he is divorced and has a young son who cannot stop crying from bumping his head on the dashboard after the panic stop. We do know this: he wants Powers to level with him. Something she has difficulty doing throughout the first hour.

When Powers returns to Harding's home, his habitual lies are dispensed flawlessly. It is an old premise where he denies the train incident or that the letter ever existed. The remaining players are in kind, also denying her reality. Appearing totally perplexed by it all, it is a highly improbable conspiracy that includes the chauffeur who drove her to the station, the lady she was accused of killing, and the officer who arrested her. It is all a bit much and I found it very silly with an assumed climax, barring one twist. Harding's condescending explanations for what never actually happened are hard to sit through. Bergerac seems to be along as Powers' defense attorney or hostage negotiator. The movie-goer's frustration all leads up to a hilarious ending of bad acting with a detailed—albeit confusing—explanation of what the first fifty-eight minutes were about. The only twist worth mentioning is that Powers and Bergerac are the only ones who do not belong in a sanatorium.

Notes: Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by Leslie Edgley, this pseudo-thriller was directed by Bernard Wiesen. It was produced by Wiesen, Earl Durham, and Julie Gibson for Scaramouche Productions and distributed by Astor Pictures, a poverty row film distributor from the Thirties through the Fifties.

The studio prop car that Bergerac "drives" in traffic is typical of low-budget films. Not long after they first meet, he is so exasperated by Powers' secrets it appears he stops in the middle lane (at night) and asks her to get out. Yet the projected screen traffic is still moving behind him. Indeed, her reality is that she will more than likely be struck by a vehicle if she exits. Every driver behind him is courteous without a single horn honk.