23 Paces to Baker Street
The wife wanted something "like Remember the Night" to put on for Christmas night, and I somehow came around to suggesting 23 Paces to Baker Street, pitching it as a serviceably cozy mystery thriller.
I don't know what I was thinking mentioning a "bait she switch" regarding our hero's disability last time, because it's more or less up front about the fact that he's blind from the get-go.
This movie really is basically a nothing movie, skating by mostly on its Cinemascope cinematography (this is a solid case for why the format shouldn't be restricted to lush vistas, but works in mundane urban settings too) and well...<PERSON>, who is easy on the eyes and carries most of the talent here.
It's kind of hilarious how this mystery carries itself upon such a thin premise. A man suspects two strangers of plotting...something. He's not sure exactly, but it sounds suspicious. 306
And that's all we have to go on for most of the movie. Even when he has his world class butler tailong suspects, neither he nor the audience has any clue as to what exactly is going on, and it isn't until the final twenty minutes or so that any real nefarious plot is uncovered.
And nothing before then is really all that engaging, either! It's the sort of forgettable, disposable picture where all the best parts are half-baked variations of other, much better movies, and that's kind of the appeal here.
It ain't anything you haven't seen done better before, but it'll do in a pinch if you want a boilerplate 50s thriller with good looking actors and Cinemascope visuals. When it finished, my wife turned to me and said, "That was about exactly what I needed tonight", and I couldn't disagree. 596