Purple Noon (1960)

Clément keeps the surface dazzling while menace hums below. Decaë shoots blue seas, razor-crease suits and airy interiors so crisp you miss the knife. Delon’s Ripley moves with feline poise; Ronet’s louche playboy spots the teeth too late. A few slack spells stop it from greatness, yet beside the glossy remakes this stays cooler, leaner and more unsettling. If Ripley ever needed a passport mugshot, this would be it.

School friend “Tom” (Alain Delon) has been despatched from the USA to Italy to fetch back the profligate son of a multi-millionaire. “Philip” (Maurice Ronet), however, is perfectly happy swanning around with his girlfriend “Marge” (Marie Laforêt) and so has little intention of returning to San Francisco with his "friend" whom he quite clearly doesn’t really remember. For the moment, “Tom” is quite happy playing the kept boy but that dynamic is starting to annoy "Marge” and also proves distasteful to fellow American “Freddy” (Billy Kearns) so poor old “Tom” is never quite sure of his footing - especially when the trio embark on a yacht and he realises just how precarious his position is. Conscious of his vulnerability, he has been watching his friend closely. Learning how to mimic not just his behaviour but also his all important signature on the cheques that are funding their travels. Then, when an opportunity presents itself he takes his newly honed improvisation skills to an whole new level. The question is - can he get away with his crimes and manipulation with the tenacious “Insp. Ricordi” (Erno Crisa) on the case? The camera loved the boyish Delon, or more importantly his killer eyes, but here he delivers a characterisation that builds not just on his handsome visage, but also on his charismatic ability to present a likeable and charming yet entirely unscrupulous schemer. Patricia Highsmith’s story is riddled with twists, turns, a little humour, greed and lust - but this is also quite a sophisticated story that keeps us guessing right until his boat comes in at the end. The production is lavish. Not in a grand and bawdy fashion, but in a plausible and almost seedy one as their naughty behaviour is heard but never seen. It’s tense, compelling and if you can see it on a big screen to enjoy better the glistening photography, then you ought to enjoy this.