There's little doubt here what will happen with the very Joan Crawford like Alexis Smith as the bored wife of psychiatrist Alexander Knox who sets her sights on the sexy criminal (Dirk Bogarde) he sets out to rehabilitate. Smith starts off like a kitten, but then her claws come out, and even if she's nasty to Bogarde, you know that the thin like between hate and lust will make her long for more than just snarking at him every time the doctor husband is out of the room. Knox is the type of character here that you know probably won't hold interest for his affection-starved wife, and much like Crawford's later "Queen Bee", Smith is a cool cat about ready to pounce on her prey and leave nothing left if they don't give her what she wants.A lot of the film is psychological talk about how a criminal can be changed if his environment changes, and you have to give the writers credit for allowing Bogarde to play this aspect of the character. But Bogarde is too high class in appearance, manner and speech to be believable as a thief, so this aspect of the story never rings true. It takes a lot of time for the heat to strike between Bogarde and Smith, and even after Knox witnesses a come-on scene between the two of them, he's still willing to allow Bogarde to remain. But as Smith gets more grasping, Bogarde gets bored with her, and it isn't long until the hidden psychosis in her character comes out, leading to an obvious conclusion where you swear you can still hear her evil laughter long after this has occurred.In spite of Knox's boring character and Bogarde's seeming miscasting, the film grabs your attention every time that the fabulous Ms. Smith is on screen. She had little opportunity on screen to show what she could really do, and it would take Broadway to bring that out when she stepped into sexy gowns to play the glamorous Phyllis in Stephen Sondheim's "Follies". Fans of "Dallas" will see a bit of the character she later played, Lady Jessica Montford, here, and when Smith really gets chewing on the scenery, you really pray she won't choke on some of the melodramatic lines she's given. But that is what makes this movie somewhat memorable in spite of obvious flaws, and you won't soon forget her after the movie is over.

If you've been reading under my username, you probably know about my reviewing various players from the original "Dallas" in previous movies/TV appearances in chronological order for the past several weeks. So it is here that I'm commenting on a performance of one Alexis Smith-who would eventually play the crazy Lady Jessica Montford on the soap-who plays someone who seems quite aloof in the beginning but becomes quite the opposite later on. Her character's name is Glenda Esmond who's married to a Dr. Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox). This psychiatrist takes home a Frank Clemmons (Dirk Bogarde) who tried to mug him and he attempts to rehabilitate him. Director Joseph Losey (working under the name Victor Hanbury since he was blacklisted at the time) seems to rush things as the picture goes on but it's fascinating to watch the three main characters go through the changes with each revelation that gets piled on throughout. I'm not saying that I believe it when those changes come but it's pretty entertaining when they happen. So on that note, The Sleeping Tiger is worth a look.

Actually, this film isn't all bad. 'The Sleeping Tiger' refers to Alexis Smith's bored doctor's wife, who decides to throw herself at the bit of rough from the criminal classes (Dirk Bogarde) who her husband is hoping to rehabilitate. I suppose Bogarde's Frank is a British equivalent to the angry young men of Brando or Dean, but being British he is just a bit too mannered to be convincing.Smith's descent into frustration and anger after being rejected is unconvincing and done too quickly, meaning that the end sequences are rushed and unbelievable. Still, up to that point, the film is not bad. The relationship between Smith, Bogarde, and Smith's husband (Alexander Knox), is played out well and the film manages to be fairly engrossing and somewhat ahead of its time.

A certain Victor Hanbury is credited with directing this remarkable psychological drama but that won't fool any of Joseph Losey's admirers since it shares not only thematic similarities with one of his most notable American films, THE PROWLER (1951), but was indeed the turning point of his career in many ways: blacklisted by Hollywood for his Communist leanings, Losey fled first to Italy and then to Britain, remaining in Europe for the rest of his days. THE SLEEPING TIGER also marked the start of a fruitful collaboration (resulting in five films) between Losey and star Dirk Bogarde, who here shows a definite maturity miles away from the bland matinée idol roles he typically played during this period; the film itself has an intensity not found in contemporary British cinema.Alexis Smith (terrific in one of her last starring roles) and Alexander Knox (playing his part in the Glenn Ford manner – where a quiet exterior conceals a strong personality, hence the film's title) are the married couple whose sheltered suburban lives are invaded by smart but incorrigible thug Bogarde; Knox is a psychiatrist whom the young man had tried to hold up, but has the tables turned on him and is subsequently kept on in the former's house as a 'guinea pig' – echoes of BLIND ALLEY (1939) and THE DARK PAST (1948) – where he stirs up the passionate instincts of the doctor's frustrated American wife. Needless to say, there's no happy ending for any of the characters: the climax provides plenty of fireworks and twists – with Losey's ironic symbolism being maintained till the film's very last shot. Composer Malcolm Arnold adapts his score to each of the film's moods, alternating between the sleazy and the histrionic.Unfortunately, the poor-quality Public Domain print I watched bears some evident signs of wear-and-tear as there are a handful of jarring jump-cuts throughout (resulting in a running-time of 87 minutes against the official 89); several years back, the film was released on PAL VHS but no official DVD is in sight yet in any region (a status, alas, in common with the majority of Losey's work prior to the 1960s).