This isn't the first time that Gregory Peck has suffered from amnesia caused by an accidental death in front of his character's eyes if you recall the plot of Hitchcock's "Spellbound" 20 years earlier so perhaps it's apt that this Edward Dmytryk directed feature so resembles the Master in other ways too. Here we again have an innocent man at the centre of nefarious goings-on, pursued by gun-toting heavies, there's a beautiful woman on his side, a suitably grand McGoffin in the form of a top-secret anti-nuclear formula, a big reveal at the end when he recovers his memory (recalling "Marnie" as much as "Spellbound"), indeed there's even a depiction of a man falling out of a high-storey building in classic Hitchcock style.
But let me quickly move on from these comparisons and credit the director for executing a feature with which I'm confident Hitchcock himself would have been happy. Crisply shot in and around New York, it gets you into the sometimes confusing but intriguing action straight away and helped by a clever script, slick direction and good playing, especially by Peck, it keeps you there throughout.
Diane Baker, late of "Marnie" of course, is the mystery woman with conflicted loyalties, although at least she doesn't don a blond wig for the part. George Kennedy and Walter Matthau, of late chasing Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn around Paris in Stanley Donen's similarly-styled "Charade" turn up again here both to good supporting effect, indeed I'd say that Matthau's hangdog P.I. should maybe have been allowed to hang around more than he does given his pleasing interplay with Peck in their scenes together. There's also a fine sub-Bernard Hermann score by Quincy Jones which adds to the fun.
"Mirage" may not be quite in the same bracket as either "North By Northwest" or even "Charade" but if my eyes don't deceive me, there was much to enjoy in this entertaining caper.
But let me quickly move on from these comparisons and credit the director for executing a feature with which I'm confident Hitchcock himself would have been happy. Crisply shot in and around New York, it gets you into the sometimes confusing but intriguing action straight away and helped by a clever script, slick direction and good playing, especially by Peck, it keeps you there throughout.
Diane Baker, late of "Marnie" of course, is the mystery woman with conflicted loyalties, although at least she doesn't don a blond wig for the part. George Kennedy and Walter Matthau, of late chasing Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn around Paris in Stanley Donen's similarly-styled "Charade" turn up again here both to good supporting effect, indeed I'd say that Matthau's hangdog P.I. should maybe have been allowed to hang around more than he does given his pleasing interplay with Peck in their scenes together. There's also a fine sub-Bernard Hermann score by Quincy Jones which adds to the fun.
"Mirage" may not be quite in the same bracket as either "North By Northwest" or even "Charade" but if my eyes don't deceive me, there was much to enjoy in this entertaining caper.