David Miller's Sudden Fear is a tragic film noir misstep with honorable artistic intentions but a clumsy, fumbled execution. The film follows Myra Hudson, a wealthy Broadway playwright, as she marries Lester Blaine, a struggling actor, and discovers that he is plotting to murder her and inherit her vast fortune. Miller tries to wrench out every iota of psychological tension within this story, diving deep into Hudson's mind as she tries to cope with the discovery of the plot against her life. And the last 15 minutes or so are an excellent exercise in tension as she stalks Blaine on the night he has planned to do her in. However, despite all of this, the film trips over its own two feet in the character development department. At the beginning of the film, Myra is a strong, independent woman. However, after Blaine publicly humiliates and insults her after she fires him from one of her plays, she seems to instantly fall in love with him. And even more, he seems to genuinely love her, too. Then, once he discovers that he is destined to inherit her money, he seemingly transmogrifies into a would-be murderer. These developments are so jarring and sudden that they are impossible to believe. I know that in Hollywood films people fall in love almost instantaneously, but in Sudden Fear it seems even more unnatural and forced than usual. These aren't living, breathing characters; they're automatons who have been programmed to act out a traditional film noir narrative.
5/10
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