''The Very Edge'' is a 1963 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Cyril Frankel Cyril Solomon Israel Frankel (28 December 19217 June 2017) was a British film and television director. His career in television began in 1953 and he directed for over 30 TV programmes until 1990. He directed many episodes of popular British TV sho ...

and starring

Anne Heywood Anne Heywood (born 11 December 1931) is a British retired film actress, who is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in ''The Fox''. Early life and career Born as Violet Joan Pretty in 1931 to Harold and Edna E. ( Lowndes) Pre ...

Richard Todd Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...

Jack Hedley Jack Snowdon Hawkins (28 October 1929 – 11 December 2021), better known as Jack Hedley, was an English film, voice, radio, stage, character, theater, screen and television actor best known for his performances on television. His birth name n ...

, Jeremy Brett and

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

. The screenplay concerns a young woman who is assaulted and stalked by a maniac.

Plot

Happily married couple Tracey (Anne Heywood) and architect Geofrey (Richard Todd) are expecting their first child, when, one fateful day, a maniac, (Jeremy Brett), breaks into their home and assaults Tracey, causing her subsequent miscarriage. Initially unable to cope with life after the attack, Tracey is unresponsive to her husband , and her great trauma does not heal easily. Even after moving home, taking a holiday, and showing his wife every consideration, the strain of waiting for a second attack by the obsessive stalker, and his wife's continuing frigidity, tempts Geoffrey to start an affair with his secretary, who's confessed to falling in love with him whilst supporting him after becoming his secretary, and during his wife's hospitalisation. In the meantime, Scotland Yard detective, McInnes, (Jack Hedley), has been unable to find the psychopath responsible for the assault, and Tracey's safety is still in question as she is constantly stalked by the criminal.

Cast

as Tracey Lawrence *

as Geoffrey Lawrence *

as McInnes *

Nicole Maurey Nicole Maurey (20 December 1925 – 11 March 2016) was a French actress, who appeared in 65 film and television productions between 1945 and 1997. Life and career Born in Bois-Colombes, a northwestern suburb of Paris, Maurey was originally ...

as Helen * Jeremy Brett as Mullen *

Barbara Mullen Barbara Mullen (9 June 19149 March 1979) was an American born actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet McPherson, the housekeeper in ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook''. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she alre ...

as Doctor Crawford *

as Shaw * William Lucas as Inspector Davies *

Gwen Watford Gwendoline Watford (10 September 1927 – 6 February 1994), professionally known after the mid-1950s as Gwen Watford, was an English actress. Watford's talent was spotted by John Gielgud while she was still a schoolgirl, and with his help ...

as Sister Holden * Patrick Magee as Simmonds

Critical reception

The '' Radio Times'' noted, "Another British cheapie that hoped to lure audiences into auditoriums with the sort of sensationalist story they devoured in their Sunday papers"; whereas ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' called it "An effectively handled psychodrama"; and ''Movie Magazine International'' wrote, "The intriguing element about "The Very Edge", under Cyril Frankel's assured direction, was that Tracey Lawrence had more of a psychic bond with her attacker than she did with her own husband. ... She had a compassion for his illness and she was, ironically, less of a victim around Mullen than she was around Geoffrey. ... Brett was riveting as the tortured psycho..."; and '' Sky Movies'' wrote, "Producer Raymond Stross put his wife Anne Heywood through her most strenuous acting test to date when he and Leslie Bricusse thought up this dramatic thriller...The plot bears a strong resemblance to the previous year's '' Return of a Stranger'' with

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

, although that didn't have the benefit of the distinguished supporting cast here, which includes Nicole Maurey, Jeremy Brett, Barbara Mullen, Maurice Denham, William Lucas, Gwen Watford and Patrick Magee."

References

External links

* * 1963 films 1963 drama films British drama films Films directed by Cyril Frankel 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub