marcslope A prestigious director, two celebrated screenwriters, a trendy early-'60s production design, and Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, and this ludicrous crime drama just adds up to misguided. Others have pointed to Perkins' miscasting, but who could have persuasively played this despicable rotter, who goes from beastly to charming and back again in a snap, sometimes in the same line? He's an abusive husband who fights with wife Sophia, heads off to Casablanca for a business trip, the plane crashes and he's presumed dead, but he returns, and schemes to collect a large insurance policy he took out at the airport. (This couple, with their designer fashions and her fabulous sports car, don't look to be hurting for money.) Eventually the insurance-fraud plot turns to murder, and Sophia's forced to turn to smarmy Gig Young, at the tail end of his leading-man days, for advice and consolation. And there it just ends, when the plot hasn't been resolved at all and we're not even sure whether we're on her side or not. Sophia does not look happy to be there, but she's at least focused and consistent, which is more than can be said for Perkins, and there's a notably good supporting turn by child actor Tommy Norden, as a snoopy neighbor who threatens to undo the larceny. It all feels quite modern and with-it for 1962, with moody black-and-white photography and jazzy score, and it ain't dull. But it sure ain't good.

Wizard-8 The first thing that will strike viewers as strange is the title. Is "Five Miles To Midnight" a common expression? If so, I've never heard of it before. Anyway, placed next to the movie, it doesn't make that much sense, even though a character in the movie does say the title out loud at one point. If they had used the Charles Bronson title "10 To Midnight", it would have made a bit more sense.The second thing that will be strange to viewers is the pairing of Anthony Perkins and Sophia Loren. True, they were paired together as a romantic couple a few years earlier in "Desire Under The Elms", but reportedly that worked as well as it does here. How a beauty in the form of Loren could be attracted to the nervous, boyish Perkins is hard to swallow, to say the least.But even if the title was fixed AND they got two lead actors with better (and believable) chemistry together, I think the movie still wouldn't have worked. I could see this story being told as a short graphic story in the comic "Tales From The Crypt". I could see this story working as a half-hour episode (with commercials) of a show like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". Or even as a full hour. But this telling of the story lasts about 110 minutes. It's VERY slow-moving, full of padding like the stuff with the little nosy boy. Plus, the ending of the movie is very predictable - I guessed what would happen after reading the plot synopsis before actually starting the movie.Far from the worst movie I've seen, but still not worth seeing. Trust me, you've seen this story before one way or another.

mdm-11 Anthony Perkins is not exactly the abusive husband type (especially to an ever-beautiful Sophia Loren). Add to it the plot elements of master-minding an insurance fraud, and the odds of good-natured Perkins pulling it off become immeasurable. The sole survivor of a plane crash, Perkins was fortunate to have taken out a special insurance policy (even if the odds of dying in a crash were 1 in 1,000,000). Good wife Loren, already prepared for widowhood by the "news", gets a good shock when Perkins shows up, pressuring Loren to play along with the hoax to collect the insurance money.Although the ending is somewhat of a surprise, the time spent getting there seems like an endless and tiresome walk through the woods, only to arrive at a run down greasy spoon as a reward. Without any frills or glamour, even shot in b&w, this is a less than average vehicle for either of the stars. Look for a young Tommy Norden (of TV's "Flipper" Fame) in a minor role. Otherwise, skip it altogether

philiponel Very campy movie. The 60's dancing style is so outdated. Sophia Loren, of course very beautiful, has not done much to perfect her acting style this early in her career. She seems to have great trouble with the English language. The character starts out as a really nice girl, then in the middle of the movie, she turns!! Quite a surprise. Tony Perkins is wonderful as this slimy mean nasty insurance salesman. Gig Young is absolutely horrible. I don't know who ever told him he could act. It has been years since I've seen anything this campy. Very entertaining.