Hitchcock it Ain't

We also would've accepted the title, "Not the Ahnold one...", but I'm just not that good. Well, on behalf of the disgruntled audience I was a part of... DAMN YOU, RUNNING MAN!!! On the other hand, (SPOILERS) the burros were cute. And the ducks and rabbit, etc. Director Carol Reed will of course be best known for that damn The Third Man... and that's it. A director like Carol Reed can only be known for one film in this age of lists and The Internets. Carol Reed's a girl, right? Should've profiled her this year in my Auteur Watch section. Anyway, as the title said, this is Hitchcock-esque. Better than William Castle, not as good as ol' Alfie Hitch. Also symptomatic of the age, Alfred Hitchcock will now be shortened to A.Hit. Saves space, and it's just two syllables if you have to speak it.
But back to the movie. I wasn't impressed with the picture quality, nor the blandness of the soundtrack... and apparently, neither was Robert Osborne. This was TiVo'd off of TCM, and he didn't intro it! For shame. There are clever twists in the plot, but each twist seems to come with its own implausibility, which doesn't work. Still, it's a fine example of what happens when two of the beautiful people try to avoid working for a living. I tells ya, the pretty ones get away with murder! Not in this film, though. They almost get away with it. Sorry, did I need to say Spoilers again? Another SPOILER ALERT while I'm at it: those shots of the Rock of Gibraltar were so worth it.
If this were made today, either Jude Law or Ewan MacGregor would play the Laurence Harvey part, Cameron Diaz in the Lee Remick role, and ... let's say, the dude from Office Space in the Alan Bates role, just DON'T BE FUNNY!

Good double bill with: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

**

-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan