Die 27. Etage (1965)
6KDie 27. Etage: Directed by Edward Dmytryk. With Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, Kevin McCarthy. An accountant suddenly suffers from amnesia. This appears related to the suicide of his boss. Now some violent thugs are out to get him. They work for a shadowy figure known simply as The Major.
“Sharing not a passing resemblance to The Manchurian Candidate from three years before, this is a sadly neglected thriller that would have been a classic if the directoru0026#39;s credit read Hitchcock instead of someone HUAC blacklisted at the time. It couldnu0026#39;t have been any better too, with Hitch involved. Thereu0026#39;s really nothing the movie sets out to do that it doesnu0026#39;t do pretty damn well. The fights are clumsy and 15 years too old-fashioned, like something taken from a film-noir and edited in the same awkward fashion, but other than that the movie is a rousing success. Dmytryku0026#39;s career took a massive blow after the fifties and his decision to finally cooperate in order to be released from prison earned him the contempt of subsequent Hollywood people, but a good ten years later, the director of still had it in him to deliver a stonecold classic with Murder My Sweet.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGregory Peck is David Stillwell, an accountant working for a NYC firm who realizes he canu0026#39;t remember anything from his life the past two years. The movie opens in a blacked-out skyscraper where he meets with a mysterious young woman who seems to know him. She then disappears in the subbasements of the building. When he searches for these basements the next morning, theyu0026#39;re not there. Thatu0026#39;s just a taste of the hallucinatory mindgames the film has in order for the viewer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWisely photographed in clear black and white, with an intriguing premise and plot that will have fans of conspiracy thrillers salivating at the prospect of paranoid twists and turns, this is a minor gem that deserves to be rediscovered from the cracks it slipped through. There is a plot hole regarding these basements and where they really are after all but if we accept the psychological explanation of Pecku0026#39;s condition (itu0026#39;s only a movie after all), itu0026#39;s a smooth ride. The multiple flashbacks of the ending and the way Dmytryk handles them is something to see.”
