Stop Me Before I Kill (1960; Hammer Studios)

I really like these “headcase” psychological dramas, and Val Guest, many Hammer fans know from the likes of “Abominable Snowman and the Himalayas” and the two Quatermass films, directs this B&W thriller about a traumatized Grand Prix driver, Alan, who hit his head on the windshield after a head-on collision with a truck, unable to unlock this block that prevents him from having any ease from high anxiety, a hot temper that comes and goes, and this compulsion to nearly strangle his wife, Denise, when he sees the chain on her neck. He is all bent out of shape and not sure what to do. He’s lost confidence in himself and can fly off the handle at a moment’s notice. When on vacation at the south of France, the married couple encounters a psychiatrist, Dr. Prade, who recognizes that Alan could use some serious help with his “issues”, but there’s an ulterior motive for why he wants to be involved and Denise trusts the head doc implicitly. The film I think ably persuades us that Alan is on the edge and could fall off if he doesn’t get help resolving the trauma that seems to doggedly torment him. Dr. Prade really does get to the root of the problem, having Alan seriously evaluate his dreams and takes him on a trip through memory of that car wreck to determine what might be provoking him towards wanting to kill Denise. There is even this bizarre back and forth between doctor and patient about Denise being killed and disposed of (surgical instruments to chop her up and a laundry chute to dump her bits and pieces!).

This is primarily a three-character play with the benefit of nice European locales and eye candy backdrop, but I warn readers that it is also very heavy on talking out neuroses with Prade seemingly looking to help Alan and protect Denise, then the conclusion throws a fun swerve that proves how vulnerable a person could be to psychiatry if it is turned against him. And the cruelty of convincing someone he killed his wife only to later fuck with him about that experience being all in his head is wholly irresponsible, chalking it up to love for the patient’s wife! That is seriously warped, the doctor using his skills to heal in an effort to make the patient worse in order to hopefully seduce his wife! The performances are all three good, with Claude Dauphin, quite a charmer, earning the trust of Denise while gradually willowing through Alan’s defenses to secure his as well. Dauphin manages to make his doctor clever and manipulative while also maintaining a veneer of respectability and likability until his shady, underhanded tactics (to win Denise, and disembark Alan from the picture). Diane Cilento was once married to Sean Connery, working in Italian and English, very concerned but loyal to her husband, always willing to work with him despite Alan’s outbursts and emotional difficulties. I know Ronald Lewis as the surgeon in William Castle’s “Mr. Sardonicas”; in this film, he’s quite a mix of volatility, frustration, sophistication, softness and tenderness, and it is quite a performance that allows Lewis to run the gamut in a roller coaster of spectrum emotions. So much so, that you could almost see Alan perhaps “slip”, but the camera cues with Prade monitoring Alan’s nervous tics is a nifty clue to us that the cagey doc was sizing him up and preparing to fuck him over. I like these off-shoot Hammer efforts that aren’t bombastic blood and color, going more for character study and psychological duress instead of monsters and horror. I like when a studio can be eclectic and change things up. I think “Stop Me Before I Kill” (1961) is fun example of that. 3.5/5