Sunday | August 21, 2011 7:00 pm

5 Fingers

Screening on Film

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
With James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie.
US, 1952, 35mm, black & white, 108 min.
Print source: Academy Film Archive

Featuring one of James Mason's standout roles as a dashing and immoral spy, 5 Fingers is a deliciously arch espionage thriller whose sharp satiric edge slices through the wonderful screenplay co-written by blacklisted writer Michael Wilson and Mankiewicz, who surrendered his screenwriting credit in order to direct the film. Mankiewicz is once again enamored by the lush yet fragile opulence of the upper class, peopling his films with fallen aristocrats such as Danielle Darrieux's vanquished countess with questionable allegiances. Mankiewicz himself directed the stunning Ankara and Istanbul location shoots that strengthen the exotic mood expressed by Bernard Herrmann's marvelous Orientalist-tinged score. – HG