Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Key (1958)

Director: Carol Reed

Average user rating
2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Extraordinary, unwieldy World War II naval epic which fails to deliver as much as it promises, but promises so much as to be worth while none the less. Swiss waif Loren shelters and succours a succession of war-weary tugboat captains who are never quite sure whether she's a goddess or a whore, an island of love in the cold, cruel sea or a siren leading them on to their doom. Loren is excellent, and the film plays interestingly with the idea of a woman's mystery being the product of male prejudice and fear. But the dictates of the international box-office - lots of naval manoeuvres and a turgidly wooden American hero - result in a fascinatingly enigmatic melodrama being buried within a stolidly conventional war film.

Author: RMy

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • Reg chiddick said...
    Posted on Nov 03 2007 06:15 Great film and I would love to see it again. perhaps I should write to BBC and ITV to see if it is still available.
    Report as inappropriate
  • Dick Sawdon Smith said...
    Posted on Sep 17 2007 06:18 I saw this film when it came out originally (which rather dates me) and it is the only time I have wanted to stand up in a cinema and shout at the actors. I wanted to shout 'don't give him the Key'. I have never seen it again on television or else where but would love to, if only to check whether it would have such a dramatic effect on my feelings. But I wuold also like to see if I still think it the great film that I did at the time. Does anyone know if it was ever brought out on video or DVD?
    Dick Sawdon Smith
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Carol Reed

Producer: Carl Foreman

Cast: Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard, William Holden, Kieron Moore, Oscar Homolka, Beatrix Lehmann, Noel Purcell, Bryan Forbes, Irene Handl, Carl Möhner, Bernard Lee full cast

Genre(s): War

Duration: 134 mins


Features

Bridesmaid revisited

Bridesmaid revisited

Anne Hathaway crashes more than a wedding in Rachel Getting Married.

Old-school house

Old-school house

Even in the age of the multiplex, a few old movie theaters continue to thrive in NYC.

Keeping the faith

Hope abounds in Spike Lee’s latest—as it does in the director himself.

Going the distance

TONY toughs out the Toronto International Film Festival, blow by blow.

Race you to the top

Tyler Perry doesn’t need critics—and may not need new audiences.

Spanish intuition

Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall flirt away an Iberian summer in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

To air is human

Man on Wire, a new doc about a surreal Manhattan morning, aims high.