Blindfold

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.

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.

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.

Blindfold is a clever and entertaining film with an interesting moral to it about some folk's paranoid obsession with security. As lead Rock Hudson plays a psychiatrist he's in a perfect position to diagnose the problem. Can he find a cure though when security is compromised?

Hudson's practice includes some of New York's society bigwigs and he's quite the lady's man within that set. But one day he gets a call from a general in civilian attire played by Jack Warden who wants him to treat a former patient of his who is now a government scientist and who has had a nervous breakdown. But we can't let the Commies or anyone else know about it.

So Hudson is flown a couple hours to an old mansion where Alejandro Rey is being held and he does his psychiatrist thing and he's blindfolded as well. Two other people are concerned, Claudia Cardinale as Rey's sister who is telling the world about her brother's kidnapping and in point of fact he was. And there's the stuttering Guy Stockwell who convinces Hudson that Warden is a fake.

A great deal of the film is spent with poor Hudson trying to get answers to questions with no one 'authorized' to tell him. So who is real and who is fake, Warden or Stockwell? That you see the film for.

Blindfold is a delightful comedy and suspense film in the Hitchcock tradition. As is the mark of a good film, supporting the charming leads is a flawless cast of memorable performances. Besides those I've already mentioned there is Anne Seymour as Hudson's secretary, Brad Dexter as a thick as a brick NYPD detective, Vito Scotti and Angela Clarke as Cardinale and Rey's parents and a mule named Henry who gives the plot a kick in the right direction.

For fans of Rock Hudson and those who will be after seeing Blindfold.

I've seen this mystery/comedy on one of the cable channels, a few years ago. I believe it's a Universal picture, and it may be one of those movies that the studio hasn't gotten around to putting out on VHS or DVD.

It's not bad as a film, and I hope that it comes out on digital in the years ahead.

Rock Hudson is his usual self in this film, playing his typical cool guy/nice guy self in trying to figure out who the good guys/villains are. And this movie did keep me guessing till the very end.

Nice movie