The 1967 WAIT UNTIL DARK is one of my favorite movies and as is the case with anything I enjoy, I have to go-all-in with reading about it. After falling in love with the movie, I snapped up a copy of the play and wanted to see a production. There are plenty of amateur productions on YouTube of varying quality, but this televised version with Katharine Ross and Stacy Keach intrigued me. I finally found a copy online, albeit ripped from a VHS recording.
As far as filmed theater goes, this is solid. Sometimes there are close ups for effect, but we generally see all the action onstage. Lighting is exceptional, particularly during the climax, and the music, while not as memorable as what Mancini did in the '67 movie, is slasher-like and appropriate (though there's a weird intrusion of jazzy muzak during the intermission). I also have to give a shout-out to the way this version portrays the famous "jump scare": instead of having Roat leap onto Susy, he emerges from the shadows suddenly, which is no less startling than a jump, which runs the risk of coming off as cheesy.
The supporting cast is adequate, with leads Katharine Ross and Stacy Keach getting much of the best material. Ross is a tough, almost stoic Susy, very understated in her approach to the character. She is the opposite of Keach. Keach is rather dynamic as Roat, going from merely uncanny to outright batty in the last scene. He's the Roat the 80s needed, I guess: coked up to the nines! Some might say he's too over the top, but I think the theatricality works for a villain who views himself as an actor and director, much like the psycho-rapist Alex in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE views himself as a musician, kicking victims in time with "Singin' in the Rain."
To be honest, I prefer the '67 movie to the play. The movie actually changes a lot of dialogue, making it snappier (I really miss Roat's "topsy-turvy" speech in the blackout scene), and alters so many minor details as to leave it with a rather different feel than the original script (Susy taking out the lights herself in a terrified bought of resourcefulness, for instance, rather than having Gloria there to help her). I have to admit I also miss the movie's scenes of the crooks plotting in their Volkswagen outside the apartment. I always felt those scenes actually added to the suspense in showing their gradual frustration with Susy's dawning intelligence of the situation, as well as showing the in-fighting among themselves.
Even the casting of the delicate-looking Audrey Hepburn adds a lot to the terror value of the movie version, something I never quite got with Ross. Ross is good, coming off very much as a wholesome woman next door who must contend with lethal forces, but Hepburn's characterization seems fuller to me and much more vulnerable. Her arc is stronger. I was never as scared for Ross, who does not seem as traumatized as Hepburn is by the car accident which blinded her or as poignantly insecure in her marriage.
Regardless of my preference, this forgotten version deserves at least a wider audience, as it has its charms (for me, namely Keach going bonkers), and gives those deprived of the chance to see the play live an opportunity to look at a professional rendition. Unlike playwright Frederick Knott's DIAL M FOR MURDER, WAIT UNTIL DARK has not had several televised performances over the years, so this is about all we're ever likely to get in that regard.
As far as filmed theater goes, this is solid. Sometimes there are close ups for effect, but we generally see all the action onstage. Lighting is exceptional, particularly during the climax, and the music, while not as memorable as what Mancini did in the '67 movie, is slasher-like and appropriate (though there's a weird intrusion of jazzy muzak during the intermission). I also have to give a shout-out to the way this version portrays the famous "jump scare": instead of having Roat leap onto Susy, he emerges from the shadows suddenly, which is no less startling than a jump, which runs the risk of coming off as cheesy.
The supporting cast is adequate, with leads Katharine Ross and Stacy Keach getting much of the best material. Ross is a tough, almost stoic Susy, very understated in her approach to the character. She is the opposite of Keach. Keach is rather dynamic as Roat, going from merely uncanny to outright batty in the last scene. He's the Roat the 80s needed, I guess: coked up to the nines! Some might say he's too over the top, but I think the theatricality works for a villain who views himself as an actor and director, much like the psycho-rapist Alex in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE views himself as a musician, kicking victims in time with "Singin' in the Rain."
To be honest, I prefer the '67 movie to the play. The movie actually changes a lot of dialogue, making it snappier (I really miss Roat's "topsy-turvy" speech in the blackout scene), and alters so many minor details as to leave it with a rather different feel than the original script (Susy taking out the lights herself in a terrified bought of resourcefulness, for instance, rather than having Gloria there to help her). I have to admit I also miss the movie's scenes of the crooks plotting in their Volkswagen outside the apartment. I always felt those scenes actually added to the suspense in showing their gradual frustration with Susy's dawning intelligence of the situation, as well as showing the in-fighting among themselves.
Even the casting of the delicate-looking Audrey Hepburn adds a lot to the terror value of the movie version, something I never quite got with Ross. Ross is good, coming off very much as a wholesome woman next door who must contend with lethal forces, but Hepburn's characterization seems fuller to me and much more vulnerable. Her arc is stronger. I was never as scared for Ross, who does not seem as traumatized as Hepburn is by the car accident which blinded her or as poignantly insecure in her marriage.
Regardless of my preference, this forgotten version deserves at least a wider audience, as it has its charms (for me, namely Keach going bonkers), and gives those deprived of the chance to see the play live an opportunity to look at a professional rendition. Unlike playwright Frederick Knott's DIAL M FOR MURDER, WAIT UNTIL DARK has not had several televised performances over the years, so this is about all we're ever likely to get in that regard.