Review of Eight Witnesses

There are some Hitchcock moments here that will stick in your mind. The murder sequence is a killer because of the long, meticulous foreplay that leads up to it, without you or the victim having the chance of getting any idea of the emergence of the murderer until it's too late. The victim is a sweet old man on the run with some state secrets, and of course he is concerned and slightly paranoid, being too well aware of the secrets he is carrying, while we never learn anything about it. Dennis Price, always elegant and eloquent, makes a good show together with Peggy Ann Garner, a librarian managing the hall of the blind readers, all reading braille. She is the daughter of the fugitive and is not involved in any way in her father's secrets, but gets harassed by his murderers anyway. It's a great thriller in a small format, but the high moments of psychological cinematography with astute sensitivity calls to mind not only Hitchcock but also Graham Greene.