Blindfold (1966)

When Alfred Hitchcock made "North by Northwest", it was so successful that the studios wanted him to make another movie in the same style. However Hitchcock wanted to move on saying, "Style is merely self-plagiarism".Nevertheless, Hollywood loved the ingredients in "North by Northwest" and attempted many variations on the theme: "Charade", "Arabesque", "Caprice" and "Blindfold", which got as close as any.Psychiatrist and playboy, Dr Bartholomew Snow, is enlisted by national security chief, General Pratt (Jack Warden), to help the recovery of Arthur Vicenti, a top scientist suffering from a mental breakdown. Vicenti is in danger from an organisation that kidnaps and sells scientists to the highest bidder.Snow, who never loses his sangfroid for a moment, is blindfolded and taken to a secret location for his meetings with Vincenti, but returns to his practice in New York so that nothing appears out of the ordinary. When Vicenti's sister, showgirl Vicky Vicenti, comes looking for her brother, she and Snow become involved along with enemy agents of varying degrees of intelligence.Eventually it all ends up in the Florida Everglades with alligators, airboats, quicksand and Rock and Claudia in a clinch at the fadeout.By this stage of his career, Rock Hudson was as smooth as Cary Grant, but how sexy was Claudia Cardinale in "Blindfold"? There is a scene in her dressing room where she wears a see-through costume with the only nod to modesty being a sprinkle of strategically placed sequins and some feathers. Claudia Cardinale was never likely to be first choice for Shakespeare, but she was such a stunning presence that it didn't matter if she wasn't totally projecting the Stanislavski Method.Although Rock could give powerful performances, he just about phoned this one in. However it's really all he needed to do and he had great comedic timing; I love his reaction when his secretary catches him in his office playing with Vicky's knee. There is a stupid fight scene with Rock using a fire extinguisher, but the clever sequence where he retraces the route when he was blindfolded makes up for it.For those who liked "North by Northwest", "Blindfold" blended the same basic ingredients well.

The original poster of this film read in big characters: "Behind the blindfold is the greatest security trap ever devised!" These formulaic promotional campaigns can kill a movie, as in this case, an above average comedy drama that today is almost forgotten. Better than one could expect, considering that Philip Dunne as a filmmaker was not among the best visual stylists from New York, "Blindfold" benefits from his talent for words and structure. He was a very good scriptwriter and for this comedy he wrote a fine script with clever dialogue (with the collaboration of theater instructor and writer W.H. Menger) for an above average mystery thriller based on a novel by Lucille Fletcher, the author of the famous radio plays "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Hitch Hiker". Rock Hudson might not have been as solid an actor as others who in the early 60s were in similar films (as Cary Grant in "Charade" or Gregory Peck in "Arabesque" and "Mirage"), but he excelled in romantic comedies and there's a good amount of elements from this sub-genre in "Blindfold", sharing screen time and space with Claudia Cardinale, who also knew how to be very funny. As a matter of fact I prefer Hudson paired with beautiful brunette leading ladies of European origin (Gina Lollobrigida, Paula Prentiss, Leslie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons and Claudia) than with Doris Day or Julie Andrews. Recommended.

Strongly influenced by Alfred HItchcock's spy thrillers ("north by northwest" " the man who knew too much"...etc) ,"Blindfold " shares with them the same vagueness as far as the political stakes are concerned. There are villains who kidnapped a scientist ,period.Sometimes ,the viewer does not know who the villains are anymore.And the movie shows some humor ,when it seems everything is unauthorized and when the cop lies down on the psychiatrist's coach.Besides the movie is proof positive that mules are clever .Claudia Cardinale keeps her slightly hoarse voice (apart from Italian,she is also fluent in French) and her pairing with Hudson is odd,but why not?The movie is never dull and although it is far-fetched to a fault -Hudson finding the way back to the House - it's good entertainment .But if you have not seen Hudson's precedent movie -one of his favorites- " Seconds"(Frankenheimer) ,made the same year,you'd better choose that one.

Good fun entertainment by Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. As always Jack Warden does a nice job in a support role. When Hudson is kidnapped he makes note of the things he hears on the way to the kidnappers hideout. He is able to help the police track down the kidnappers following the sounds. To this day this movie stands out in my mind because of them noting the geese sounding like people at a party. Grab some popcorn and enjoy it if you are lucky enough to catch an airing of this on TV.