2. Wait Until Dark (1967)
The first film I ever actually watched with Audrey Hepburn in it, the introduction to the power of her acting and her performances couldn't have come better in the sublime, dark and brilliant thriller
Wait Until Dark which pits Hepburn against a group of thieves, murderers and smugglers as they invade her apartment. It's the thriller Hitchcock never shot - and if he had, it would have been a gem in his later career. Utterly frightening, Hepburn steals the show as blind heroine Susy but the trio of villains are all cast perfectly, Alan Arkin's truly terrifying ringleader as the perfectly deranged sociopath Roat meeting his unlikely match in the terrified, brilliant and brave Susy. It's caught in the zeitgeist of 1970s thrillers when they began to become more associated and attached to the idea that the scariest thing is someone invading your home. The action scenes are perfect and the finale - which literally flashes from light to dark - is tense, horrifying and a true timeless standout as Susy levels the playing field against her foe. Ironically, the shadowy, dark and menacing Roat finds himself trapped and vulnerable in the darkness while the light and bright Susy, having struggled with her adjustment to blindness, finds the darkness her ally. The true shame is that
Wait Until Dark is arguably her final solid and truly remarkable film in a glittering career - she almost won the Best Actress Oscar for this role and if she had, it would have been a hell of a high for this iconic actress to achieve in her later career.