Sombras de sospecha

Not-bad adaptation of Max Ehrlich's novel "First Train to Babylon" turned out to be Gary Cooper's final film (he died before its release). An American Air Freight sales manager in London testifies against a fellow employee in a murder/robbery trial; five years later, with the manager and his spouse now living in luxury, the wife begins to suspect that her husband was the killer the entire time. Hurt by a seemingly lower-end budget--and by a script that doesn't always make sense--this is still a most unusual project for Cooper, who manages a fine performance. Film builds to a fine pitch of suspense in its concluding sequence (which Adrian Lyne might have studied for his "Fatal Attraction" closer). Deborah Kerr stays wide-eyed and white-knuckled throughout as Cooper's wife; she's also quite good, though the godawful shlock music by William Alwyn underlines all of her suspicions with a thundering of drums that could wake the dead. So, is Cooper guilty or not? The finale provides an amusing frisson or two--and a twist which the ghostly voice-over informs the audience to please not betray. **1/2 from ****