Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

tavm 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.

evening1 This movie was incredibly compelling until the last half-hour or so. Then it all goes to hell when the Dirk Bogarde character undergoes an unconvincing transformation and the Alexis Smith character turns vampire demon.Despite the unlikely plotting, Bogarde's performance is magnificent (I've never seen him in anything in which he wasn't stellar). Ms. Stewart has an incredible face; I hadn't been aware of her previously and for the most part she's fascinating to watch.The extremely hackneyed and cowardly ending of this film was reminiscent of "Jules and Jim." The latter worked; this one fails miserably. What a cop-out.As wonderfully as this film started out, I can't recommend it.

didi-5 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.

MARIO GAUCI 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).