The Naked Edge is directed by Michael Anderson, has a screenplay by Joseph Stefano which is based on the novel by Max Ehrlich. The film stars Gary Cooper, Deborah Kerr, Diane Cilento, Ray McAnally, Peter Cushing and Eric Portman.This is a cracking thriller, filled with plenty of tension and good performances. The film struck me as being very similar to Hitchcock's Suspicion, focusing on the wife beginning to doubt her husband and fear for own safety a little.George Radcliffe(Gary Cooper)witnesses a murder and robbery. Donald Heath(Ray McAnally)is arrested for the crime, he strongly insists that he is innocent but at the end of the trial he is found guilty and sent to prison.Some time later Radcliffe's wife Martha(Deborah Kerr)receives a blackmail letter which claims George was the killer. Martha slowly finds herself beginning to doubt her husbands innocence and becomes frightened of him.George says he is innocent and is hurt that she could doubt him. Martha tries to get to truth and even meets the blackmailer(a sinister performance by Eric Portman)to try and get to the truth. Up until the final scene we're not sure just how innocent or guilty George is and that adds to the suspense and tension the film builds up. Cooper plays the character in a way that you can see guilt if you look for it, you can also see innocence too and you're never entirely sure what to make of him.Cooper and Kerr are excellent, I think it's a real shame that they never made other films together. Diane Cilento is very good as the wife of Heath, she knows her man is innocent and will stand by him no matter what, she believes George is the real killer. Eric Portman is creepy as the mysterious blackmailer.I think the music spoils the film, it is much too loud and intrusive in scenes where music wasn't needed. Apart from that this is a very good thriller.

When the film begins, George Radcliffe (Gary Cooper) is in court testifying in a murder case. Another man is subsequently convicted of the murder and the story jumps ahead several years. Now Radcliffe is rich and successful...and his wife receives an anonymous blackmail note. The note would seem to indicate that George was the real murderer! Well, instead of going to the police like any sane woman, she whines and way, way overacts for the entire rest of the film and I don't think I've ever seen Deborah Kerr more shrill and awful. She's not an actress, she's an over-actress!!! She overacts so badly it's embarrassing and I am shocked the director didn't tone down her performance so she only seemed like a totally crazy person (this would have been an improvement!!). But to make matters worse, in some of the subsequent scenes, the music goes nuts...absolutely nuts...with strains that sure sound inspired by the soundtrack from "Psycho". The problem is that NOTHING IS HAPPENING in these scenes and the music is totally inappropriate!!!"The Naked Edge" could have been a very good film. It's obvious that the director was going for a 'Hitchcockian' sort of picture but there are just to many problems with his direction and it comes off as second rate (at best). Now the problem is NOT the script. After all, Joseph Stefano wrote it...and he's the same guy responsible for "Psycho" and many of the best "Outer Limits" episodes. The story, aside from the overacting and bad music, is actually VERY good....even if it is highly reminiscent of "Suspicion". No, the problem is something that I would pin on three things...and sadly, it's Gary Cooper's last film and he deserved better.With different music and a different actress (or different direction) it could have easily earned an 8 or possibly a 9. The film is like a beautiful mansion that has dry rot and extensive termite damage hidden within the walls and foundation.

During after hours in a nearly empty London office, a man is murdered and a sack of cash stolen. George Radcliffe, an American associate, is working late and witnesses the murderer's escape. Later, he is the key witness in a trial that sends the accused man to prison. But was he guilty? Where did the money go? Michael Anderson's 1961 thriller, "The Naked Edge," is a nicely done mystery that echoes Hitchcock's "Suspicion" in many respects. Hitchcock is also linked to the film through screenwriter Joseph Stefano, who earlier wrote "Psycho" and adapted the novel "First Train to Babylon" for this film. At age 60, Gary Cooper was at the end of his career and near the end of his life. Although looking tired as Radcliffe, Cooper manages, like Cary Grant in "Suspicion," to maintain his nice-guy image, while suggesting something darker and enigmatic. Lovely Deborah Kerr matches Joan Fontaine as the loving, but doubting wife. Kerr is at the center of the film as clues surface, her suspicions grow, and she seeks the truth behind both the murder and her husband's inexplicable behavior.A stellar cast of stalwart British actors support the stars; led by Hermione Gingold and the priceless Wilfred Lawson, the list includes Michael Wilding, Peter Cushing, Eric Porter, and Diane Cilento. The black-and-white cinematography by Erwin Hillier captures appropriately gritty images of working class London and shadowy atmospherics that enhance the climactic suspense. Only William Alwyn's music tends to overwhelm early in the film, when the composer telescopes the action and loudly punctuates critical moments. While Anderson is not Hitchcock, and "The Naked Edge" is not "Suspicion," the director manages to maintain a brisk pace, build tension and suspense, and reach an exciting and satisfying climax.Well done throughout, "The Naked Edge" will grip viewers and keep them absorbed to the end and beyond, when a voice-over warns the audience not to divulge the ending. Of interest for more than just a great American star's final role or for another opportunity to admire the always radiant Deborah Kerr, the film is a taut thriller that delivers. Although Hitchcock-like and Hitchcock-lite, "The Naked Edge" is worthwhile, even if dedicated crime buffs will likely outpace Kerr and guess the outcome.

What is most remarkable about this movie, is that if one did not know it was not so, one would believe it was a Hitchcock movie. It is even more hitchcocky, than the real ones! The plot was interesting and intelligent, and I am glad Gary Cooper turned out to be the good guy after all! He looked very old, haggard and ill, though. It was heart-wrenching to see him like that, as he used to be so handsome, strong and vital. I wonder why it was necessary for him to make another movie at this stage of his terminal illness? Deborah Kerr was beautiful, ladylike and stylish and with that kind, innocent quality, as always.I like movies about moral questions, that make me think "what would I have done?". The truth is, that when I was younger, I would probably have reacted like Martha. I would have felt, that I had to know. But today? Today I would probably have turned a blind eye, kept quiet, not risked the good life I had finally achieved (or rather: that my husband had achieved for me), and the life with the man I loved. This is not because I have turned more callous, because I do not believe that I have. But because I have realized that I do not anymore have so many good years left, and that if I lost everything now it would be too late to achieve it new. So I would hold on to what I had. And I would tell myself that no matter what it was not MY guilt - I had not committed any crime, and I had not encouraged any either.