The Devil's Staircase

Korea

Middling to good thriller from 1964. Good lighting, cine...marred some by really odd use of music. Every now and then fragments from an American pop song would drift on by although the film overall most resembled films from France in that same era.

An ambitious doctor murders his mistress in a scenario like A Place in the Sun. Deliberate pacing allows us to really get inside his mind, crippled with guilt. Strong elements of Diabolique in the final half.

I would have liked this more if I had seen it at the time. Now, the wooden acting and histrionics gave it a dated feel. Still, it held me till the end...not many from that period do that anymore.

6