SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Coventry "Fragment of Fear" certainly isn't your average type of whodunit/mystery thriller, and whether or not you like it will entirely depend on your own personal attention span and tolerance towards screenplays that reveal very few clues and depict only a minimum amount of action. Who killed Lucy Dawson, the elderly aunt of recovering drug-addict turned novelist Tim Brett, whilst she was on vacation in Italy and seemingly visiting the ruins nearby Pompeii? More importantly, are we really supposed to care by whom Aunt Lucy got strangled and why, because the script (adapted from John Bingham's novel) remains distant and vague regarding the actual murder and clearly only wants us to worry about the deteriorating mental state of protagonist Tim Brett. Shortly after the murder, and having fallen in love with the witness who first discovered the body, Tim returns to London and decides to investigate the murder himself. Although he discovers almost nothing, he does receive a few unmistakably clear warnings to restrain from looking further. He is repeatedly visited by a peculiar old lady (who turns up dead later), gets threatening letters coming from his own typewriter and someone is laughing mysteriously on his answering machine. The police don't take him very seriously, being a former heroine junkie, and rather than killing him as well, the person (or persons) Tim Brett tries to unmask is merely attempting to bring his persona in further discredit. Yes, I do realize this brief description is rather confusing, but so is the entire film! I'm not even sure if I understood half of it! "Fragment of Fear" is definitely one of the best films ever made in terms of depicting the paranoiac state of its lead character! Throughout the entire film everybody is wondering whether or not everything that is happening is real or not; and even the denouement doesn't provide a conclusive answer. Like Tim Brett mumbles at one point during the film: "Either I am mad and all this isn't happening to me, or else I'm sane and it is…" There you go: "Fragment of Fear" accurately summarized in one single line of text. Paranoid or not, the film does contain a couple of remarkably suspenseful moments, a marvelous illustration of London society during the late 60s/early 70s, a catchy soundtrack and a number of solid acting performances. David Hemmings remains one of the most phenomenal but sadly underrated actors of his generation. He carries the entire film, which must have been quite a heavy burden, without a lot of effort. There are many truly gifted actors and actresses in the supportive cast, like Adolfo Celi, Flora Robson and Yootha Joyce, but their screen time is bizarrely limited.

christopher-underwood I felt this could have been so much better and began to temporarily tire of it somewhere around the halfway mark and then it lifted and ran pretty well to the end. David Hemmings seemed a bit limp and Gayle Hunnicutt almost asleep but then maybe it was the erratic script. I guess there is also the problem where a film is going to have different levels of reality that not all can be made too transparently clear. There is a wonderful cameo from Wilfred Hyde-White and things certainly pick up with the appearance of Daniel Massey and Arthur Lowe. Apart from the dialogue being rather lacklustre at times and some scenes going on a tad too long, the music is completely wrong. I have seen the score by Johnny Harris highly praised and possibly outside of the film the jazzy music is fine but here it is too loud, too obvious and basically, bloody annoying. Despite all this, the film remains likable enough and certainly worth a look.

The_Void Fragment of Fear is a film that has somehow slipped under the radar since its release in 1970 and that's a real shame as while the film does have a few narrative problems; this is excellently produced and well worked mystery thriller that really does deserve to be more seen. The film is halfway between a murder mystery and a psychological thriller and director Richard C. Sarafian gives both halves of the film equal credence as the focus is stretched across the central character's questionable mental health and the murder of his aunt that he is investigating. The central character is Tim Brett; he's a reformed drug addict living in Italy. He returns to London when his aunt is found murdered and begins asking people who knew his aunt questions. It's not long before strange things start happening to him; his flat is broken into, he receives a letter that was written on his own typewriter and gets strange phone calls. It soon transpires that someone doesn't want Tim investigating. But naturally, considering he was a drug user, nobody will believe him...Some have labelled this film as a British Giallo; I don't agree that such a thing exists personally, but Fragment of Fear does feature some staples of Italy's finest type of film. The murder mystery is a given, but we also have an unseen killer and adding to that is the fact that many Giallo's feature a lead character with a fractured state of mind. The film is lead by the great David Hemmings who puts in a good performance. I was unsure of how he would across as a former drug user given his debonair screen presence, but he actually fits into this role really well and is not hard to believe. Director Richard C. Sarafian keeps the film streamlined and the action focused on the mystery which ensures that Fragment of Fear is always interesting and entertaining. The film gets more exciting as it goes along and it all boils down to a good ending that provides a nice twist and also manages a bit of ambiguity. Overall, it's a real shame that this film is so obscure as it deserves a wider audience and hopefully it will soon be picked up for a DVD release. Recommended if you can find it!

lordhack_99 I thought that this was a brilliant thriller. Hemmings's character is the perfect foil, an admitted addict. He is like a mute who cannot scream at the horror enveloping him. Paranoia and fecklessness bounce off a genuine conspiracy. The tension is almost unbearable.