Wait Until Dark

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Timing: 1:48 (108 min)

7.364/10
503

7.707/10
5693

7.7/10
33096

All about film

Video 1

Photo 30

Actors and characters

Release date

1967-10-26

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre

Thriller, Horror

Budget

$4 000 000

Revenue

$11 000 000

Website

Director

Terence Young

Actors

Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Samantha Jones, Julie Herrod, Robby Benson, Mel Ferrer, Gary Morgan
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Frederick Knott

Producer

Mel Ferrer

Operator

Charles Lang

Composer

Henry Mancini

Artist

Audition

Editing

Gene Milford
All team (22)

• A film adaptation of the play of the same name (1966) by Frederick Knott (1916-2002), the screenwriter of the detective story "Dial M for Murder" (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954).
• During World War II, Audrey Hepburn, still a teenager, worked as a nurse in a hospital. After the Battle of Arnhem (September 1944), many wounded soldiers of the Allied forces were brought to the hospital. One of the wounded patients cared for by Hepburn was a British paratrooper, and future film director Terence Young (1915-1994).
• In his book "The Dance of Death" (1981), Stephen King called the film "Wait Until Dark" the scariest film of all time and expressed admiration for Alan Arkin’s performance.
• To attract audiences, the filmmakers released an advertisement: "During the last 8 minutes of the film, the lighting in the cinema will be reduced to the maximum permissible level to emphasize the exciting finale that will take place on the screen in almost complete darkness. Smokers are asked not to light up during this time. Newly arrived viewers will not be seated in available seats for these 8 minutes." Audiences flocked to see the film.
• Finding an actor for the role eventually played by Alan Arkin proved difficult – everyone refused to play the villain who terrorizes a blind girl, especially since Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was playing her. Arkin later recounted that he got the role very easily – and precisely because other actors had turned it down.
• The costume designer is not credited in the film titles. The fact is that Hepburn herself selected the costumes for her character in Parisian shops.
• This is the first and only horror film in Audrey Hepburn's career, although it is often referred to as a dramatic thriller. The actress wanted to try herself in a new genre for her, and she agreed to the role in this film.
• Audrey Hepburn and director Terence Young (1915-1994) visited a school for the blind together. Hepburn even learned Braille to a sufficient degree to convincingly portray on screen that she knew it, although, of course, that wasn't the case.