Based on Frederick Knott’s hit Broadway thriller, “Wait Until Dark” finds Alan Arkin cast as a sadistic criminal who, with the assistance of two con men, preys on the blind Susy Hendrix (Audrey Hepburn), who has unwittingly come into possession of a doll stuffed with heroin. They play games with Susy, posing as multiple people to trick her into turning over the goods.
Richard Crenna and Jack Weston are suitably unsettling as the scheming Mike Talman and Carlino, but Arkin’s Roat is a terrifying presence who gets off on manipulating and, eventually, torturing Susy. Clad in a black leather jacket and black sunglasses, Arkin oozes menace as Roat. He’s a remorseless killer who anticipates his co-conspirators’ betrayal, and, most chillingly, relishes the cat-and-mouse game he’s got going with a blind woman.
Hepburn is perfect casting here because of her Hollywood sweetheart status. We can’t bear to see her put through this vile ordeal, and we’re especially repulsed by the glee Arkin takes in playing these mind games. He hurls himself into the theatricality of his invented characters, the most amusing of which is the blustery Roat Sr. But once he’s knocked off his associates and placed himself squarely in the driver’s seat, we’re treated to an absolutely skin-crawling moment where Roat brushes Hepburn’s face with a gauzy veil as he inquires after the location of the doll.