The Third Secret (1964)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I enjoyed this a lot. It is a bit dialogue heavy but as long as the dialogue is as good as this is, for most of the time, I have no problem with that and there is sufficient and most effective visual bravura where needed. Very English, it has to be said, and I suppose very much of the cinema of the early 60s. Judi Dench has a small part and would have a much larger part the following year, in 'Four in the Morning' set, funnily enough along pretty much the same stretch of the Thames, at Strand-on-the-Green, between Kew Bridge and Chiswick. The credits appear over a shot of the Thames at Richmond but this would be poetic license rather than a mistake. Stephen Boyd is the main male lead and he does a difficult job well as we ponder the death of an eminent psychiatrist when his daughter insists that her father would not have killed himself. Pamela Franklin plays the fourteen year old who begins to make Boyd even consider he might have killed the doctor before the film races to a rousing conclusion. She plays her role most effectively and will be remembered as the young girl from the earlier, The Innocents. Quiet, considered, intelligent film making, little seen today. Great b/w cinematography.

Does that sound redundant? It's not, you know. Think of all the 'mysteries' that show the murderer in the first few scenes ("The Big Clock", "Sleuth", etc.). "The Third Secret", on the other hand, waits until almost the last scene to reveal the murderer, which makes it a much more satisfying mystery.But what sets "The Third Secret" apart is an exceptionally well-written script with some of the most intelligent dialogue to come down the pike in years. What a refreshing departure from the current fare, loaded with f-bombs and other obscenities. This picture is written for grown-ups by a grown-up. Couple this with flawless performances from all concerned, and you have a picture worth at least a seven in our rating system.I can go no higher because this movie is a bit long-winded, with protracted scenes of very capable actors engaged in aforementioned dialogue to the point of tedium. You will, however, enjoy the overall premise - that the death of a well-known psychiatrist was a murder and not a suicide. Very cleverly handled with a twist ending. "The Third Secret" is well worth your time. It's just that it seems to last longer than it actually does.

Charles Crichron had already succeeded in the difficult task of having an adult and a child perform together :"the hunting" was one of the most moving British movies of the fifties as well as Dirk Bogarde's first important role .The Stephen -Messala-Boyd/Pamela Franklin pairing may seem strange first but this girl was really a wiz kid for she had already proved it in such works as Clayton's "the innocents" and "our mother's house" .Some kind of Jodie Foster of the sixties,she didn't make the career she deserved.A shrink has been murdered and his patients are all suspects;Boyd portrays one of them,investigating the others 'life and meeting his daughter (Franklin) ,a disturbed girl who writes strange lines on a wall and who seems to know things better left unsaid.Many scenes take place by the sea on a lugubrious beach children forgot a long time ago.Intriguing.

I first saw this as a kid, in 1970, on tv, and thought the nightmare sequence at Diane Cilento's home to be one of the scariest scenes I'd ever seen on film. After 29 years the impact is somewhat diluted, but overall the film holds together pretty well. Take a look at the extraordinary Douglas Slocombe panavision cinematography, the driven performances of Franklin and Boyd - an underrated actor if there ever was one - the striking set pieces on the Thames riverbank. It should be restored and re-issued on a VERY big screen. Scorsese, where art thou?