A lot of fun.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Suspense begins from the beginning with Italian wife Lisa Macklin (Sophia Loren) on the verge of splitting with her American husband Robert Macklin (Anthony Perkins). Prior to boarding a plane Lisa tells Robert she will not be here when he gets back. Before boarding Robert purchases an insurance policy for $120,000. The plane crashes and the papers report that there were no survivors.The suspense really heats up when after the funeral Robert appears back at their apartment injured but very much alive. He brings Lisa into a scheme to keep his death a secret so that they can collect the money. Lisa is reluctant but Robert promises to allow for their separation and a share of the money if she would assist with the plane. Lisa is very torn and emotional as she labors through the process. The movie keeps you guessing what the outcome will be, and Lisa eventually realizes that she must end her trauma. Sophia Loren is lovely and her facial expressions expressed her fear and emotional she experiences. Anthony Perkins is exceptional in being the creepy loner type. David Barnes and Tommy Norden provide great supporting roles as well.

A prestigious director, two celebrated screenwriters, a trendy early-'60s production design, and Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, and this ludicrous crime drama just adds up to misguided. Others have pointed to Perkins' miscasting, but who could have persuasively played this despicable rotter, who goes from beastly to charming and back again in a snap, sometimes in the same line? He's an abusive husband who fights with wife Sophia, heads off to Casablanca for a business trip, the plane crashes and he's presumed dead, but he returns, and schemes to collect a large insurance policy he took out at the airport. (This couple, with their designer fashions and her fabulous sports car, don't look to be hurting for money.) Eventually the insurance-fraud plot turns to murder, and Sophia's forced to turn to smarmy Gig Young, at the tail end of his leading-man days, for advice and consolation. And there it just ends, when the plot hasn't been resolved at all and we're not even sure whether we're on her side or not. Sophia does not look happy to be there, but she's at least focused and consistent, which is more than can be said for Perkins, and there's a notably good supporting turn by child actor Tommy Norden, as a snoopy neighbor who threatens to undo the larceny. It all feels quite modern and with-it for 1962, with moody black-and-white photography and jazzy score, and it ain't dull. But it sure ain't good.

I hadn't bothered watching this before because of the negative reviews it always seems to get, but I love Sophia and she made so few decent movies in the genre's I like to watch, that I finally gave it a go, and I was pleasantly surprised I found this to be a very enjoyable sub Hitchcock vehicle Anthony Perkins is very effective as the wheedling, manipulative man child that is his trademark and Gig Young is effectively ambiguous as the smarmy, stranger, who may turn out be an ally or an enemy The movie teases you with possibilities for violence or revelation that come to nothing, so that when something does happen it is all the more of a surprise (Which is considered slow and old fashioned these days, but was par for the course back then) Black and white suits the ambiance that they producers are aiming for, the veneer of French avant guard for a film that aspires to be more than it is, however what it is, is still fine by me PS; - Those who strangely expected Sophia to take her clothes off at some point obviously don't know her very well, as apart from, and perhaps because of, her experiences in her very early days in the movie business, she never does more than undo a couple of top buttons, as she does here

Anthony Perkins is not exactly the abusive husband type (especially to an ever-beautiful Sophia Loren). Add to it the plot elements of master-minding an insurance fraud, and the odds of good-natured Perkins pulling it off become immeasurable. The sole survivor of a plane crash, Perkins was fortunate to have taken out a special insurance policy (even if the odds of dying in a crash were 1 in 1,000,000). Good wife Loren, already prepared for widowhood by the "news", gets a good shock when Perkins shows up, pressuring Loren to play along with the hoax to collect the insurance money.Although the ending is somewhat of a surprise, the time spent getting there seems like an endless and tiresome walk through the woods, only to arrive at a run down greasy spoon as a reward. Without any frills or glamour, even shot in b&w, this is a less than average vehicle for either of the stars. Look for a young Tommy Norden (of TV's "Flipper" Fame) in a minor role. Otherwise, skip it altogether