Frank Sinatra plays a US industrialist and widower based in London who is contacted by an old war buddy who needs his friend to deliver a message to a woman they were both acquainted with. She's now in East Germany and, after passing a microfilm to her hidden in his watchband, Sinatra is caught and then blackmailed into committing a murder. Icy, depressing adaptation of the espionage novel written by Francis Clifford (a pseudonym for Arthur Leonard Bell Thompson) featuring a narrative so murky, we are never sure how much of a dupe the Sinatra character is--or, indeed, if he was conned at all! Sidney J. Furie is responsible for the mechanical direction; for some unwarranted reason, he usually keeps the camera a great distance from the action. As for the star, Sinatra is either delivering a very low-keyed performance here or he's completely indifferent to the material--with nary a wink to the audience that he knows this is junky stuff and he's only here for the paycheck. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Naked Runner
