The drug addiction angle adds an interesting element to proceedings too and sets it apart from the political/spy thriller crowd of the time. The paranoia isn’t politically motivated here of course though, it’s more like The Game or similar, where a hidden enemy is doing their best to drive the film’s protagonist insane. This was a trait common in 70s thrillers, although more prevalent later on, post-Watergate. Most impressive is the sense of paranoia built in the film. I’m glad Indicator saw fit to re-release it on Blu-Ray though as it’s a hidden gem that I enjoyed a great deal. The 70s were ripe with classy thrillers and this got lost in the mix somewhere as I wasn’t aware of it until recently. This is the type of psychological thriller that plays with your mind and grips with the mystery of its story rather than distract you with action scenes like most modern thrillers. As he makes his own investigations into the mystery however, those behind the murder mess with his head to such a degree that his already troubled sanity becomes tested to breaking point. The police don’t seem interested in the case, passing it off as a mugging, but when Tim spots an old friend of his aunt tearing up a note of sympathy from ‘The Stepping Stones’, he becomes suspicious. He owes part of his transformation to the support of his aunt, so he’s devastated when she’s found murdered whilst they’re both holidaying in Pompei. Adapting it for the screen was Paul Dehn, who co-incidentally (or perhaps not) had already adapted two of Le Carré’s novels into films, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and The Deadly Affair (another hidden gem Indicator have released that has been reviewed here).įragment of Fear centres around Tim Brett (David Hemmings), a reformed drug addict who has found a modicum of salvation and success in turning his experience into a book. It was popular enough to be turned into a film at least, 5 years after its publication. Bingham, who wrote a range of crime thrillers rather than sticking to the spy genre, never quite shared the literary success of his colleague, but Fragment of Fear was one of his most popular novels. Le Carré supposedly based his famous George Smiley character on Bingham in fact. Starring: David Hemmings, Gayle Hunnicutt, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Mary Wimbushįragment of Fear is based on a novel by John Bingham, a former MI5 agent who worked with David Cornwell – now better known as John Le Carré.
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