In "Mirage", Gregory Peck plays the part of a man who begins to realize that something, somewhere in his placid life as a cost accountant is seriously wrong. Faced with ever weirder inconsistencies, he contacts a psychiatrist and then, when that turns into a painful farce, a private detective.
"Mirage" is an interesting thriller that looks and feels as though it might have been directed by Hitchcock at his most devious AND most playful. There's a sly, dry sense of wit which enhances, rather than diminishes the tension. Gregory Peck makes for a strong, compelling protagonist and his increasingly desperate attempts to find out the truth about himself are genuinely intriguing and suspenseful.
Sadly I've got to say that the great reveal about our hero's real work smacked of scientific nonsense. The movie might just have well have announced that our hero had discovered a way of saving American economy by presenting every five-year-old with a dollar, or that he had developed a cheap peanut-based pill which could give everyone lustrous golden locks to rival those of Aphrodite. It felt like a let-down, especially in the context of such a clever puzzle-like intrigue.
Mind you, I'm afraid that "Mirage" speaks the truth, and remains relevant to this day, by pointing out that there's many a well-respected apostle of peace and fraternity who might just as well work for the War Department. Just look at the list of all the people who have won the Nobel Prize for Peace...
"Mirage" is an interesting thriller that looks and feels as though it might have been directed by Hitchcock at his most devious AND most playful. There's a sly, dry sense of wit which enhances, rather than diminishes the tension. Gregory Peck makes for a strong, compelling protagonist and his increasingly desperate attempts to find out the truth about himself are genuinely intriguing and suspenseful.
Sadly I've got to say that the great reveal about our hero's real work smacked of scientific nonsense. The movie might just have well have announced that our hero had discovered a way of saving American economy by presenting every five-year-old with a dollar, or that he had developed a cheap peanut-based pill which could give everyone lustrous golden locks to rival those of Aphrodite. It felt like a let-down, especially in the context of such a clever puzzle-like intrigue.
Mind you, I'm afraid that "Mirage" speaks the truth, and remains relevant to this day, by pointing out that there's many a well-respected apostle of peace and fraternity who might just as well work for the War Department. Just look at the list of all the people who have won the Nobel Prize for Peace...