Blindfold
Blindfold
| 23 May 1966 (USA)
Blindfold Trailers

A patient being psychoanalyzed by Dr. Snow is a government scientist. General Pratt hides him in a secret place known as "Base X," forcing Dr. Snow to wear a blindfold whenever he is taken there ...

Reviews
Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
gerrythree Aside from all too few location scenes of Manhattan in 1964, the movie "Blindfold" is a low-budget affair that wastes the acting talents of all involved in this movie. One scene stands out for me, as Rock Hudson's character is talking to the general, played by Jack Warden. They are supposedly flying in a turboprop airplane, yet their seats face each other, the window is covered by a long curtain and you see no one else, not even the pilot. Just a studio set, Universal wouldn't spring for filming in a mock up of a real plane or even in a real small plane. As usual throughout this movie, director Philip Dunne does an abysmal job staging the scene. What is surprising to me is that Joseph MacDonald, the director of photography, does such as bad job lighting up this scene and most of the movie outside of the scenes in Central Park. DP MacDonald usually was aces, as in westerns like "Rio Conchos" and "Alvarez Kelly." The less said about the story, the better. This movie was co-writer Dunne's last screenplay and he quit while he was at the bottom. I still can't figure out why everyone made such a big deal about kidnapping the scientist, there is no explanation of what he was working on. Beautiful Claudia Cardinale wanders about the movie looking upset. In a chase scene at the end through a swamp, she wears a tight blouse that the director makes sure never gets wet, don't want to show too much of her assets. The one word that describes this movie is "tired." No one wanted to do more then turn out about ten reels of film. Flat lighting, cheap sets, badly edited chase scenes and dull characters. Rock Hudson as a famous psychiatrist who has a problem with his girlfriend? This movie was a good way for Hudson to prepare for his later career on his series "McMillan & Wife," where cheap production values, bad lighting and shoddy writing were the norm for that 1970s series.Except for the fine actors in this movie, I can't think of one positive thing to say about "Blindfold."
Edgar Soberon Torchia The original poster of this film read in big characters: "Behind the blindfold is the greatest security trap ever devised!" These formulaic promotional campaigns can kill a movie, as in this case, an above average comedy drama that today is almost forgotten. Better than one could expect, considering that Philip Dunne as a filmmaker was not among the best visual stylists from New York, "Blindfold" benefits from his talent for words and structure. He was a very good scriptwriter and for this comedy he wrote a fine script with clever dialogue (with the collaboration of theater instructor and writer W.H. Menger) for an above average mystery thriller based on a novel by Lucille Fletcher, the author of the famous radio plays "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Hitch Hiker". Rock Hudson might not have been as solid an actor as others who in the early 60s were in similar films (as Cary Grant in "Charade" or Gregory Peck in "Arabesque" and "Mirage"), but he excelled in romantic comedies and there's a good amount of elements from this sub-genre in "Blindfold", sharing screen time and space with Claudia Cardinale, who also knew how to be very funny. As a matter of fact I prefer Hudson paired with beautiful brunette leading ladies of European origin (Gina Lollobrigida, Paula Prentiss, Leslie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons and Claudia) than with Doris Day or Julie Andrews. Recommended.
Alex da Silva Rock Hudson (Dr Bartholomew Snow) is a psychologist who is approached by Jack Warden (the General) to treat important scientist Alejandro Rey (Arthur Vincenti) who has been recently taken to a secret location for matters of National importance. This means that Dr Rock can only be transported to his patient while blindfolded so that he is kept unaware as to the scientist's hiding place. Claudia Cardinale plays the missing scientist's sister who suspects Dr Rock of being involved in her brother's kidnapping but then teams up with him to track down the scientist. All Dr Rock has to go on are the sounds that he has heard on the several journeys that he has made to him. Dr Rock and Claudia Cardinale set out on their adventure but there are others on the trail - stuttering Guy Stockwell (Mr Fitzpatrick) and bumble-brained detective Brad Dexter (Harrigan).I'm not sure what is so important about this scientist or why people are suddenly interested in capturing him. The film's premise is that if he falls into the wrong hands, the enemy will be able to unlock his brain. He is on the verge of a nervous breakdown so only psychology can save him! However, up to this point, it seems that no-one has really felt the need to capture him. Why now? He seems like an unpleasant sort of fellow so the most effective cure would be to tell him to snap out of it or he's going into the swampy waters with the quicksands and alligators.Another dodgy part of the film which isn't dwelt upon is the rather unhealthy past-time of Claudia's uncle Vito Scotti (Michaelangelo) who makes mannequins of her and dresses them up in underwear! I think that's the crime that needs investigating not the silly scientist storyline.Rock Hudson keeps us watching as the story unfolds but the film is nothing special. The cast are all fine, apart from the curiosity that is Claudia Cardinale's diction. She speaks by stressing the wrong parts of every word so that she sounds as if she is putting on a deliberate Mexican accent with her already noticeable Italian accent. She is also given unrealistic dialogue for a foreigner, eg, "cock-eyed stunt" (3 times!) and "Bluebeard". This is not natural language that a non-native speaker would casually work into a conversation. She does have some great clothes, though, a sign of the times, particularly a stylish green outfit when she is in the park, where she reminded me of my mother (who also spoke English with a foreign accent - Portuguese). She also has a funny moment when she steps out of a van into a swamp.Another stupid part of the story comes during a swamp chase sequence where Rock and Claudia get out of a predicament by using 2 mannequin lookalikes of Rock Hudson!! Where on earth did they suddenly spring from!!?? Of course, they must have been carrying them around with them throughout the whole swamp chase sequence but the audience just never noticed.It's a comedy-thriller where everyone functions according to plan and clever use is made of the sound of geese. It's true - they sound like people laughing at a party. That's something I will take away from this film. That along with Claudia looking like my mum and the boy John Megna (Mario) playing Chinese Chequers. I've never seen Chinese Chequers in a film before.
carolyn-25 I've seen this mystery/comedy on one of the cable channels, a few years ago. I believe it's a Universal picture, and it may be one of those movies that the studio hasn't gotten around to putting out on VHS or DVD. It's not bad as a film, and I hope that it comes out on digital in the years ahead.Rock Hudson is his usual self in this film, playing his typical cool guy/nice guy self in trying to figure out who the good guys/villains are. And this movie did keep me guessing till the very end. Nice movie