Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film produced by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. It stars Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, and Richard Crenna. The film was directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. The screenplay was written by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play by Frederick Knott. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Jack Weston have supporting roles in the film.

Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. The film is ranked number 55 on the American Film Institute's 2001 "100 Years…100 Thrills" list. The film's climax is listed as number 10 on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments" list.

Plot

Lisa, a person who illegally carries drugs, travels by plane from Montreal to New York City. She hides heroin inside a stuffed doll. After landing, she sees a man who looks dangerous watching her. She tricks him by giving the doll to Sam Hendrix, a professional photographer, to keep safe for a short time. The man then roughly takes Lisa away. Later, Lisa calls Sam, who says he cannot find the doll and tells his wife, Susy, to look for it. Susy lost her sight in a car accident a year ago and is still learning to live without it.

The next day, Sam is sent on a wild search to New Jersey. Meanwhile, criminals named Mike Talman and Carlino arrive at an apartment in Greenwich Village they believe belongs to Lisa, but it actually belongs to the Hendrixs. Finding nothing, they are confronted by Harry Roat, the man from the airport, who pays them to help find his doll. The criminals, who had worked with Lisa to steal the heroin, discover her dead in a closet. Roat forces them to hide the murder and help get rid of the body. The three plan to get Susy to help them search the apartment.

The next day, Susy learns that police found a woman’s body nearby. Roat calls her, pretending to be an agent for a model named Lejiana, who Sam was supposed to photograph. Mike arrives and tells Susy he is an old friend of Sam from the Marines. He leaves, and Roat, dressed as an old man, breaks into the apartment, scares Susy, and takes something. Susy asks Mike to return and call the police, and Carlino arrives pretending to be a police officer. He asks about Sam’s location the night before. Roat returns, pretending to be the old man’s son, and says his father broke in to find proof Sam was involved with his daughter-in-law. Lejiana has not been seen since last night and may have left her doll at the apartment. Susy believes the dead woman is Lejiana and thinks Sam had an affair and committed the murder. She becomes determined to find the doll to prove her husband’s innocence.

Unaware of the danger, Gloria, Susy’s helper, sneaks into the apartment to return the doll she had borrowed. Susy asks Gloria if Mike’s claim about a police car outside is true. When Gloria says there is no car, Susy sends her to watch a phone booth across the street, where Gloria finds Mike making calls. Terrified, Susy realizes the men are criminals and hides the doll. She leads them to Sam’s studio, where Carlino stays behind.

Susy sends Gloria to find Sam. She confidently calls the police but learns the phone cord has been cut. She then breaks all the lightbulbs inside and outside the apartment except for the darkroom safelight. Mike returns, realizes Susy knows the truth, but still demands the doll. Susy refuses. Mike says he sent Carlino to kill Roat, but Carlino was killed by Roat instead. Mike is also killed by Roat shortly after.

Roat locks the only door with a chain, pours gasoline into the apartment, and scares Susy with a lit newspaper. Susy throws hydrogen peroxide in his face and turns off the safelight, making it dark. Roat lights matches to see, but Susy douses him with gasoline. She tells him to tap her cane while staying still so she knows he is not moving.

Roat turns on the refrigerator to use its light. Susy hears the fridge motor and realizes she has been defeated. She gives him the doll. While Roat opens the doll, Susy stabs him with a kitchen knife. She cannot move the door and runs to a kitchen window. Roat grabs her ankle, but she pulls free and hides behind the open fridge door. When Roat tries to stab her, she unplugs the fridge, making it dark again. Sam arrives in a police car. Everyone rushes in. They call for Susy but find her unharmed, hiding in place. Roat is found dead under a fallen shelf.

Production

Main filming took place between January 15 and April 7, 1967, in New York City, Montreal, and at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. The outside of Susy Hendrix's (played by Audrey Hepburn) apartment building was shot at 5 St. Luke's Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

Release

To help viewers feel more involved in the suspenseful part of the movie, movie theater owners were told to dim the lights and then turn them off gradually, but not below the legal limit.

Reception

The film was one of the most popular movies of its year, earning $7.35 million from rentals in North America (equal to $71 million in 2025). In Spain, the film was translated as Sola en la oscuridad (Alone in the Dark) and released in March 1968. It sold 1.9 million tickets there. The film was shown again in August 1980, selling 203,036 tickets.

Bosley Crowther described the film as a "simple melodrama" that did not reveal much about the characters, except for showing a person's strength to overcome a weakness. He praised Audrey Hepburn's performance, saying her kindness, quick changes in emotion, and ability to show fear made her performance believable and moving in the final scenes.

Time magazine noted the film had a better story, setting, and cast than the play’s Broadway version. While the story had many flaws, Hepburn’s natural acting helped the audience ignore these issues. She was also helped by the supporting actors: Jack Weston, Richard Crenna, and Alan Arkin. Hepburn and Arkin worked well together to bring back a familiar story about a helpless girl facing challenges, similar to earlier films starring Dorothy McGuire and Barbara Stanwyck.

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars, saying Hepburn’s character was too simple and trusting, and Arkin’s role as a cruel killer was not very convincing. However, he noted some exciting scary scenes, including one that frightened many young girls in the theater. He also said the story became more interesting after a slow beginning.

On the review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 96% approval rating based on 25 reviews, with an average score of 8.1 out of 10. Critics called it "tense and well-acted," calling it a short but clever thriller. Metacritic gave the film an 81 out of 100, based on 9 critics, meaning it received widespread praise. The film was ranked tenth on Bravo’s list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments for its intense ending.

Although the film was well-received and earned an Oscar nomination, Hepburn stopped acting in films after its release. She did not appear in another film until Robin and Marian in 1976.

American Film Institute recognition:
• 2001 – AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills – No. 55

Soundtrack

The film's music was created by Henry Mancini, who also worked on other movies featuring Audrey Hepburn, such as Breakfast at Tiffany's and Two for the Road. The score for Wait Until Dark is known for Mancini's use of two pianos that are slightly out of tune. The notes from the slightly off-key piano create a strange, unsettling feeling that adds to the film's spooky atmosphere.