The Sleeping Tiger (1954) on Netflix
Dr Clive Esmond overpowers a thief who holds him up. To keep away from the police, Frank Clemmons stays as the psychiatrist's psychoanalysis subject, and Esmond's wife Glenda is cold to him.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Frank Clemmons pulls a gun on Dr Clive Esmond outside the psychiatrist's home, and Esmond gets the better of him. Rather than hand the thief to the police, Esmond installs him in the house as a guest and a subject for his psychoanalysis, which he hopes will break Clemmons's habit of reoffending. Glenda, Esmond's wife, returns from Paris to find the stranger living under her roof and treats him with cool reserve. Clemmons sits through regular sessions with Esmond and rides with Glenda between them. A fellow criminal is in town, and when jewelry is stolen, an inspector comes asking questions that Clemmons answers with a denial.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Sleeping Tiger (1954)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Blacklisted in the McCarthy era over alleged Communist Party ties, Joseph Losey made his first British feature, The Sleeping Tiger, using British director Victor Hanbury's name as a front; Hanbury, who had not directed since Hotel Reserve in 1944, only produced it.
- The screenplay was written by two other American blacklistees, Harold Buchman and Carl Foreman, who hid behind the joint pseudonym 'Derek Frye'.
- The Sleeping Tiger launched Losey's partnership with Dirk Bogarde, whom he later directed in The Servant, King & Country, Modesty Blaise and Accident, and with editor Reginald Mills, who cut The Servant and King & Country.
- Hollywood stars Alexis Smith and Alexander Knox feared that appearing in Losey's film would hurt their Hollywood careers; Smith's career was barely affected, but Knox settled permanently in Great Britain and became a regular Losey collaborator.
