Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer, from a screenplay by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play of the same name by Frederick Knott. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1967, and Zimbalist was nominated for a Golden Globe in the supporting category. The film is ranked #55 on AFI's 2001 100 Years...100 Thrills list, and its climax is ranked tenth on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Plot
A woman named Lisa takes a flight from Montreal to New York City, smuggling bags of heroin sewn inside an old-fashioned doll. When she disembarks, Lisa becomes worried upon seeing a man watching her at the airport and gives the doll to a fellow passenger, professional photographer Sam Hendrix, for safekeeping. She is roughly escorted away by the other man.
A few days later, con artists Mike Talman and Carlino arrive at the apartment of Sam and his blind wife, Susy, believing it to be Lisa's. Harry Roat, the man who met Lisa at the airport, arrives to persuade Talman and Carlino to help him find the doll. After the con men discover Lisa's body in Susy's apartment, Roat blackmails them into helping him dispose of it and convinces them to help him find the doll. While Sam is on a photography assignment, the criminals begin an elaborate con game, using Susy's blindness against her and posing as different people to win her trust. Implying that Lisa has been murdered and that Sam will be suspected, the men persuade Susy to help them find the doll. Mike gives her the number for the phone booth across the street as his own after falsely warning her of a police car outside the residence.
Gloria, a girl who lives upstairs and who had borrowed the doll earlier, sneaks in to return it. She reveals to Susy that there is no police car outside. After calling Mike and realizing it is the phone booth's number, Susy realizes that the three men are criminals and hides the doll. She tells them that the doll is at Sam's studio and the three leave after Roat cuts the telephone cord. Carlino stays behind to stand guard outside the building. Susy sends Gloria to the bus station to wait for Sam. When she discovers that the telephone cord has been cut, she prepares to defend herself by breaking all the lightbulbs in the apartment except for the safelight. When Mike returns, he realizes that she knows the truth and demands the doll, but she refuses to cooperate. He tells her that he has sent Carlino to kill Roat. However, having anticipated their plan, Roat has killed Carlino instead, and he then kills Mike on the doorstep of Susy's apartment.
Intent on acquiring the doll, Roat threatens to set the apartment on fire. Susy throws a chemical at Roat's face and unplugs the safelight as the apartment is plunged into darkness. Roat uses matches to see, but Susy douses him with gasoline, forcing him to put out the match. Roat finally produces light by opening the refrigerator. Susy, realizing that she has lost the battle, pulls the doll out from its hiding place and hands it to him. While Roat is distracted with it, Susy arms herself with a kitchen knife, stabs him, and flees. She is unable to escape the chained front door, and Roat grabs her ankle. She wrenches free and conceals herself behind the refrigerator door. Just as Roat stands to stab her, she unplugs the refrigerator, leading to darkness again. The police arrive with Sam and Gloria. Susy is found, unharmed, behind the refrigerator door, while the dead Roat rests nearby, disabled by a toppled shelf.
Cast
Credited: Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix Alan Arkin as Roat / Harry Roat Jr. / Harry Roat Sr. Richard Crenna as Mike Talman Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Sam Hendrix Jack Weston as Carlino Samantha Jones as Lisa Julie Herrod as Gloria
Uncredited: Robby Benson as Boy Tossing Ball Jean Del Val as Old Man Mel Ferrer as French-Canadian Radio Speaker Packy McFarland as Passerby Gary Morgan as Teenage Boy on Street Frank O'Brien as Shatner Bill Walters as BG with Dog
Soundtrack
Release
Exhibition
To immerse viewers in the suspense of the climactic scene, movie theater owners dimmed their lights to the legal limits, and then turned them off, one by one until the audiences were in complete darkness.
Reception
The film was one of the more popular of its year, earning North American rentals of $7,350,000.