Fear No More (1961)
Fast-paced woman-in-peril story enlivened by Jacques Bergerac
26 August 2023
"Fear No More" is a nifty little B-movie sure to please fans of the woman-in-peril subgenre. Mala Powers plays a young woman recently dismissed from a mental health facility, only to be ensared in a devilish plot to frame her for murder. One-time filmmaker Bernard Wiesen really keeps things moving, never giving the audience a chance to get bored. Apparently, Wiesen worked on the set of "The Trouble with Harry", and one imagines he picked up a thing or two from the master.

What really elevates this for me is the presence of Jacques Bergerac. I've seen him in a number of these low-budget affairs, and he always classes up the joint with his (extremely) thick French accent and his manful, Gallic charm. The guy's simply a joy to watch, and he gets to play a genuinely decent person here. John Harding, recognizable from his many TV roles, is a nice contrast as a hatable slimeball who just barely keeps it together when his plans are threatened.

This is adapted from a 1940s mystery novel by Leslie Edgley, so the script is a touch more intelligent than a typical production of its kind. This would make a good double bill with "Woman in Hiding", another tale of a gaslit woman helped out of impossible circumstances by someone believing in her against all evidence.
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