This is a brilliant how-catch-'em told as a character study of a middle-aged couple, Billy and Myra, that decides to kidnap a child in order to fix everything that has gone wrong with their lives. As it evolves, the crime itself seems to bounce back and forth between lucky improvisation and clever planning. In terms of suspense, the best scenes are the kidnapping itself and the ransom pick-up. The movie seems to be saying that things are more apt to go according to plan when dealing with adults rather than children. Poor Billy has to do most of the dirty work. Myra masterminds the crime, but she is clearly an unstable person from the outset.
At one point, Billy complains to Myra that he is not "a master criminal" implying that that is what their crime needs, and he is right about that. It needs two master criminals, and neither of them is up to it, but they give it their best.
Despite all of that, you have people doing horrible things with a surprising hold on their humanity. There is genuine tenderness on the part of Billy throughout and even from the police inspector at the end.
There is a revealing power shift in the course of the movie as the submissive Billy gradually reveals that he holds the marriage together and actually does have more talent as a master criminal than she does. Myra and Billy are both motivated by pain and loss, but she can't stand it while he has long since accepted it.
The cinematography is tops, with judicious, almost invisible use of zoom lenses, clear-eyed views of London in the early 1960s, and moody, sinister looks at the kidnappers house, cluttered with the refuse of the couple's bad memories.
At one point, Billy complains to Myra that he is not "a master criminal" implying that that is what their crime needs, and he is right about that. It needs two master criminals, and neither of them is up to it, but they give it their best.
Despite all of that, you have people doing horrible things with a surprising hold on their humanity. There is genuine tenderness on the part of Billy throughout and even from the police inspector at the end.
There is a revealing power shift in the course of the movie as the submissive Billy gradually reveals that he holds the marriage together and actually does have more talent as a master criminal than she does. Myra and Billy are both motivated by pain and loss, but she can't stand it while he has long since accepted it.
The cinematography is tops, with judicious, almost invisible use of zoom lenses, clear-eyed views of London in the early 1960s, and moody, sinister looks at the kidnappers house, cluttered with the refuse of the couple's bad memories.