Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Claudio Carvalho The wealthy playwright Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is the heiress of a great fortune. However she works and is donating part of her inheritance to foundations. When she watches the rehearsal of her play, she asks the director to replace the lead actor Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) that she believes is not adequate for the lead role. When she returns home, she meets Blane in the same train and they travel together. They stop in Chicago and soon Myra is seduced by him. They get married and live at Myra's home in San Francisco. Myra summons her lawyer Steve Kearney (Bruce Bennett) to change her will and transfer her fortune and properties to her beloved husband. She uses her Dictaphone to record the changes to be done in her will. However Steve will travel with his son Junior Kearney (Touch Conners) to Sacramento and they leave the room. Then Blaine and Junior's girlfriend Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), who is his lover, come to the room to plot a scheme to kill Myra so that he will be the heir of her fortune. On the next morning, Myra learns that she has forgotten her Dictaphone on and when she will proceed to dictate her new will, she hears the conversation of her husband with Irene. What will she do now that she knows what are Blaine's real feelings and intention? "Sudden Fear" is a suspenseful film-noir with excellent first half. The story of a wealthy spinster seduced by a crook is great until the moment that the lead character learns that he husband and his mistress are plotting to murder her. Her plan to save her life and get rid of them is also great. However her clumsy and moralist attitudes are terrible and reduces what could have been a little masterpiece to a good film-noir only. Joan Crawford has another magnificent performance. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Precipícios d'Alma" ("Precipices of the Soul")

JasparLamarCrabb David Miller directed this noir and it's loony in the best possible ways. It's outrageously plotted and impeccably mounted and features some of Joan Crawford's best post-MILDRED PIERCE acting. Crawford is a profoundly wealthy heiress/playwright who falls wildly in love with actor Jack Palance (after having him fired from her play!). Mayhem ensues as Crawford & Palance head to San Francisco where their courtship is tied together in a series of montages. Miller keeps this fast paced thriller moving and he's helped along by a stunning Elmer Bernstein score. Crawford emotes a lot in her own inimitable style but really has just one moment of pure Crawford camp...as she discovers that the diabolical Palance is not at all what he seems. The great supporting cast includes Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett and a very young Mike Connors as "Junior."

nomoons11 I had this film on my radar for quite some time. It had nothing to do with the fact that I try and see all of Joan Crawford's "decent" films. I was more interested in seeing her do a serious "thriller/suspense" film. The 40's stuff just didn't have that nefarious feel to it in terms of suspense/thrillers. The 50's, IMO, kick started this genre and this little film from RKO was a real gem.I'll be quite blunt...The first half of this film is really slow. Almost to a point that I came real close to stopping it but I soldiered on all I can say is wow. As the story goes, Joan Crawford is a wealthy theatre producer who in the process of an audition decided that the guy who's trying out for the role (Jack Palance) doesn't have "it" to wow the ladies in the audience. He's a good actor but just not what she thinks will work.Fast forward to the play being a success without out him and we get her leaving to go back home to San Fransisco and a chance meeting with this guy on a train there. They strike up a friendship and as the train ride goes on, more than a friendship and she ends up marrying him. The problem is though, you just get the feeling that he's up to know good.I can't tell you how gripping the 2nd half of the film is. It keeps you right there where you don't wanna leave your seat. Joan Crawford is the star of this for sure but to play the heavy they give you Jack Palance. IMO this was a miscast. I realize he plays these roles quite well but for him to get the girl was just something that left a weird taste in my mouth. Not because the film didn't work but because I think they could have made a better choice to do the job. I've never thought Palance was much of an actor or even remotely close to good looking but you could tell this one was made on a budget as Ms. Crawford wasn't a hot commodity as this point and time.See this film and wait for the 2nd half. The ending is just what you wanna see in an ending. You'll probably go to sleep at night and before you nod off you'll say..."Yes....he got what he deserved".

Dalbert Pringle In real-life Hollywood mega-star, Joan Crawford (aka Mommie Dearest) may have been a lousy mother to her adopted children, but, when it came to being a performer in custom-made vehicles like "Sudden Fear", she was the consummate actress, giving everything that she's got and even earning for herself an Oscar nomination for "Best Actress".In this intense, emotionally-charged, 1952 Thriller/Chick Flick Crawford played successful playwright, Myra Hudson, who, in a whirl of infatuation, up and marries the young, no-talent actor, Lester Blaine, only to find her bubble of bliss ready to burst when she inadvertently discovers that her stud-muffin and his snotty girlfriend are, indeed, plotting out her murder.This well-paced, lushly photographed film, with its superb cast, literally, had me on the edge of my seat during its climatic finale.