You know what happened to Nietzsche? Sudden Fear comes from director David Miller and features a screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Robert Smith, based on a novel by Edna Sherry. The film includes Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, and Gloria Grahame in the cast, with music composed by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography by Charles Lang Jr. "Miss Hudson, in your own native city of San Francisco, there's an art gallery in the Legion of Honor that holds an oil painting of Casanova. It’s clear you’ve never seen this painting. For your information, Miss Hudson, here is what Casanova looked like. He had big ears, a scar over one eye, a broken nose and a wart on his chin, right here. I suggest, Miss Hudson, that when you return to San Francisco, you visit this gallery and see this painting!" That’s the reply Lester Blaine (Palance) gives to Broadway playwright Myra Hudson (Crawford), who has just turned him down for a lead role in her play because of his appearance. Later on the same day, they meet up on a train headed toward Frisco, where Myra finds herself falling for him. They begin a courtship and eventually marry; however, when money becomes an issue and Irene Neves (Grahame) appears, something much more sinister begins to emerge. It takes some time for Sudden Fear to find its rhythm, but once it does, it’s a suspenseful, noir-style pleasure. Filmed on location in San Francisco, with Charles Lang Jr.’s cinematography providing dramatic contrasts and Miller using shadows and camera movements effectively, the film has a visual style that's essential to the story's tense atmosphere. It becomes fairly apparent early on what is going on with the plot, but this doesn’t lessen the suspense; Miller builds it gradually before releasing the unsettling moments in the middle of the movie, which also brings out excellent performances from Crawford, Palance and Grahame. The material seems custom-made for Crawford, allowing her to display a wide range of female emotions, while Palance enjoys portraying the villain and Grahame delivers her character with her unique style. A bit of editing to shorten the running time would have been beneficial, and some of Myra’s resilience in the final section pushes believability a little far, but overall it's a very good "woman in peril" noir film that has an exceptionally thrilling conclusion. 7.5/10

Source on TMDB