FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT no stars

Seldom in the history of movies has there ever been a more mismatched couple than Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins. She's the Italian wife, he's the American husband and they aren't getting along. Then he's killed in an air-crash but being the star we know he's still alive, particularly since he just took out life insurance. Anatole Litvak made "Five Miles to Midnight" in 1962 and it's a very formulaic thriller with lame performances and limp dialogue and a plot that's been done better dozens of times before. It's watchable and Loren isn't bad but a miscast Perkins is awful; we know he can play the psychopath but it's as the strong, romantic and attractive leading man that he's utterly unconvincing and we have to convince ourselves that it was supposedly this side of his character that made him attractive to Loren in the first place. Throw Gig Young into the mix and you know you're in trouble. One to avoid.