Despite an outstanding cast and a talented director--Laslo Benedek (THE WILD ONE; DEATH OF A SALESMAN)--this is a lackluster thriller. Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow became available when MGM turned thumbs down on Fred Zinnemann's A MAN'S FATE, so they jumped feet first into this project,
and one wonders if they bothered to read the script. Salem (von Sydow) is being housed in a Swedish prison for the insane because he has been convicted of killing a farmhand with an axe. The truth is that he's innocent; the murder was actually done by Esther Jenks (Ullmann) and her physician
husband, Anton (Oscarsson). Although the asylum he is held in is supposedly escape-proof, S...
Released:
1970
Rated:
GP
Length:
102 mins