Derek Winnert

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I Saw What You Did *** (1965, Joan Crawford, John Ireland, Leif Erickson) – Classic Movie Review 5654

Producer-director William Castle’s 1965 thriller was deemed good enough for showman Castle not to have to bother with all his usual advertising gimmicks and publicity tricks. Indeed, he was right, he didn’t have to, it is an intriguing, eerie, neat little chiller.

Well, mostly, at any rate. Though there are no on-screen gimmicks, or elaborate effects, such as for The Tingler (1959) when a vibrating device was attached to cinema seats, some American cinemas still installed seat-belts so that patrons could not be ‘shocked out of your seat’.

John Ireland stars as Steve Marak who is after two teenage girls, Kit and Libby (played by Sara Lane and Andi Garrett), whom he believes have seen him murder his wife (Joyce Meadows).

But it is Joan Crawford, no less, who is top billed as Ireland’s lover, Amy Nelson, who knows about the murder. Leif Erickson plays Libby’s dad, Dave Mannering.

However, despite the strong competition, it is Lane and Garrett who steal the picture as the teenagers who get into danger when they spend an evening making random prank calls ringing up strangers and uttering the film’s title (‘I saw what you did. I know who you are’). Unfortunately, one of calls of course is to the killer.

William P McGivern scripts from Ursula Curtiss’s novel Out of the Dark. It was remade as a TV movie in 1988.

Also in the cast are Patricia Breslin, John Archer, Sharyl Locke, John Crawford, Douglas Evans and Barbara Wilkins.

Crawford provided her own wardrobe and jewelry for her top-billed star cameo, paid $50,000 for four days’ work. She signed on one month after quitting Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) because of an ailment. It was Crawford’s last appearance in an American film. Crawford and Ireland previously together in Queen Bee (1955). Crawford and Erickson also starred in Castle’s Strait-Jacket (1964).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5654

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

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