After a blackout in his office building, accountant David Stillwell emerges outside to find out a man he did not know either jumped or was pushed out a window to his death — and that he can't remember the past two years of his life. Enlisting the help of a rookie private eye and a reluctant old flame, Stillwell uncovers the mystery detail by unexpected detail.
Acting
Walter Matthau steals every scene as the world-weary PI.
Direction
Dmytryk turns empty hallways and stairwells into psychological traps.
Writing
Screenplay by Peter Stone — same mind behind *Charade* — twisty and sharp.
Director
Edward Dmytryk
Gregory Peck
David Stillwell
Diane Baker
Shela
Walter Matthau
Ted Caselle
Robert H. Harris
Dr. Broden
Kevin McCarthy
Sylvester Josephson
Leif Erickson
The Major
Walter Abel
Charles Stewart Calvin
George Kennedy
Willard
Jack Weston
Lester
Anne Seymour
Frances Calvin
House Jameson
Bo
Hari Rhodes
Lt. Franken
Eileen Baral
Irene
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Peck and Matthau became lifelong friends after this shoot; Matthau later called it his favorite early role.
Shot during peak Cold War paranoia, the film's corporate-military conspiracy mirrored real fears about nuclear scientists being co-opted — a theme Stone would revisit in *Charade* and *Arabesque*.
US
