Ian Carmichael made a wonderful career from playing well-meaning, naive and gullible young gentlemen, so my interest was piqued when I saw that Hide and Seek was billed as a 'thriller'. In reality, of course, this is much lighter and at best a comedy thriller in the genre of 'The 39 Steps'; the similarities continue when we are presented with a buttoned-up emotionally repressed academic (Carmichael) paired with a free-spirited, slightly wacky and alluringly beautiful spirit (Janet Munro).
The subsequent play out - entrapment, double cross, confrontation with the bad guys and the growing attraction between the two leads is somewhat predictably formulaic but enjoyable nonetheless. Hugh Griffith stands out as a splendidly eccentric bargeman and Curt Jurgens as the main Baddie is obviously relishing his role as a cultured and charming sophisticate. The denouement is no match for the 1935 Hitchcock classic, however, and a bit 'meh'. Kieron Moore, who had a real talent for darkly smooth and menacing characters, appears but is underused.
The subsequent play out - entrapment, double cross, confrontation with the bad guys and the growing attraction between the two leads is somewhat predictably formulaic but enjoyable nonetheless. Hugh Griffith stands out as a splendidly eccentric bargeman and Curt Jurgens as the main Baddie is obviously relishing his role as a cultured and charming sophisticate. The denouement is no match for the 1935 Hitchcock classic, however, and a bit 'meh'. Kieron Moore, who had a real talent for darkly smooth and menacing characters, appears but is underused.