I wanted to but couldn't!

Great Film overall

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

FACES IN THE DARK is one of those intriguing, long-forgotten little British thrillers of the early '60s. It's an essential three-hander in which the unlikeable John Gregson plays an industry boss who ends up getting blinded in a freak factory accident. He's forced to recuperate, being looked after by his wife Mai Zetterling and second-in-command John Ireland, but soon becomes convinced that everything isn't as it should be.This is a film that makes the very best of a low budget thanks to a unique-feeling storyline and plenty of suspense that builds up, particularly in the second half. The first half is a little slow and stately, but as a mystery this throws clues at you every now and then before finally letting rip towards the climax with an excellent twist. From that point in it never disappoints, right up until the arresting climax. FACES IN THE DARK certainly holds its own against bigger budget fare in this viewer's opinion.

I have always thought that "Les Visages De L'Ombre" was Boileau-Narcejac's best novel,even Superior,in several respects to the more celebrated "Celle Qui N'Etait Plus" (which Clouzot rewrote as "Les Diaboliques" ) and to "D'Entre Les Morts " (transferred to the screen by Hitchcock as "Vertigo".Much to my surprise,this movie was never released in France,at a time when their novels were extremely popular over here :in the late fifties and sixties,there was "Les Louves" (Saslavski,1957),"Meurtres En 45 Tours "(Etienne Périer,1960 from "A Cœur Perdu" )"Maldonne" (Sergio Gobbi ,1969) and "Maléfices" (Henri Decoin,1962,starring Juliette Greco,which is never to be found:however,given the quality of the book,it must possess considerable appeal for fans of Boileau-Narcejac's style.)These books are,par excellence,"the novel of the victim" ,and the victim is always a man;women are all femme fatale in these works which some may find misogynist ."Les Visages De L'Ombre" ,as an user already pointed out,is a cruel story :so hard and so desperate was the ending that the editors asked their winning team to sweeten it ,to make it more moral:they did not ,but anyway are their other detective stories so optimistic?Among all these murder mysteries ,"Les Visages De L'Ombre " is the hardest to transfer to the screen:when you read it,you live the whole story through a blind man's eyes,so to speak.You do not know what Christiane and David (Hubert in the book) feel ;in the last part of the movie,the actors are compelled to overplay,whereas in the book,the characters remain "neutral" ,even kind .The suspense is increased tenfold.David Eady made the best of the novel:he certainly could not direct a movie with a central character surrounded by fog and smoke and darkness.His actors direction is faultless,particularly John Ireland as Maxime ,the unfortunate hero's brother.He made Christianne's lover an amateur painter ,which is a good way of introducing the peach tree episode.By and large ,except for the final ,in which the screenwriters did what Boileau-Narcejac's editors urged them to do before their book was released ,the screenplay is faithful like a dog to the initial story . The scene in the cemetery ,which scared me to death when I read the book for the first time,is skillfully filmed :Richard's fingers touching the cross and discovering the awful truth compares favorably with Clouzot's and Hitchcock's best frightening moments ;on the other hand,Richard's desperate escape in the country is too short :this is perhaps,however,the only moment when Eady could recreate Richard's plight ,alone in the darkest night and losing his bearings ,and the trick of the level crossing -not from the book- does not make up for it.It was an arduous task :I do not think a remake would do the novel justice or else it would have to be an avant-garde thriller with one character and darkness.But I would recommend it to all Boileau-Narcejac's buffs in my country.NB:There's also a German MTV version "Gesichte Des Schattens" .(1984)

Some movies just don't need to be made, and that is the case with "Faces In The Dark", a turgid, uneventful movie which lacks tension, suspense and, especially, mystery. Actually, the mystery may be why this picture was produced in the first place. A grouchy, self-absorbed CEO is blinded in a laboratory accident and spends the rest of the film making himself even more unappealing. The picture is well-acted and produced but is too long by half. Well done but not interesting.May I digress for a moment? I have lately begun to feel that UK viewers consistently overrate films made in the UK. Is it because they feel intimidated by Hollywood? We make a lot of clinkers over here, too. But often when I obtain a UK film recommended by British viewers, it is not as good as advertised. So, with "Faces In The Dark" I got taken again. C'mon folks. A little unflinching honesty goes a long way.

This taut little gem was on British television last night - January 23rd 2010 - on the Film 24 channel, which has been treating old movie fans to some really obscure titles recently including two other John Gregson films ' To Dorothy A Son ' and ' SOS Pacific '.I have now recorded it in case it's another 50 years before it turns up! It's got a very dark, disturbing ending for a British film made in 1959, no doubt because of it's French literary origins.While it's definitely worth thriller & mystery lovers spending 90 minutes of their time, the sudden disappearance of John Ireland ( who adopts a pretty good English accent as Gregsons ner-do-well brother ) mid-way through the film, is the biggest mystery of all.I believe he was making the TV action series " The Cheaters " in London at the same time so maybe he had to bow out of " Faces In The Dark " because of other work commitments.He didn't even have a dramatic death scene...suddenly he was gone and referred to as being dead! All these years later, we'll never know why an actor of his stature had such a minor role in the film,