Five Miles to Midnight

Five Miles to Midnight Le Couteau dans la plaie
The VHS cover.
Directed by	Anatole Litvak
Produced by	Anatole Litvak Louis Wipf
Written by	Peter Viertel Hugh Wheeler Maurice Druon
Starring	Sophia Loren Anthony Perkins
Music by	Mikis Theodorakis Jacques Loussier Giuseppe Mengozzi
Cinematography	Henri Alekan
Editing by	Bert Bates
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	1962-12-12
Running time	110 min.
Country	France/Italy/US
Language	English

Five Miles to Midnight (French: Le Couteau dans la plaie, literally The Knife in the wound) is a 1962 French-Italian-American drama film made by Filmsonor S.A., Dear Film Produzione and Mercury and distributed by United Artists.

1 Production
2 Plot
3 Cast
4 External links

Production

The film was directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Litvak and Louis Wipf from a screenplay by Peter Viertel and Hugh Wheeler with dialogue by Maurice Druon, based on an idea by André Versini. The musical score was written by Mikis Theodorakis for the film, which also includes music by Jacques Loussier and Giuseppe Mengozzi. The cinematography was by Henri Alekan.

The film stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, with Gig Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Yolande Turner, and Tommy Norden.

Plot

Immediately after Lisa (Loren) declares that she is leaving her immature, abusive, but easy-going husband Robert (Perkins), he is reported dead in a plane crash. Secretly still alive, he convinces her to collect his life insurance, although she knows that it's a bad idea. Lisa must contend with the complications of the scheme, which involve an aggressive suitor (Young), Robert's jealousy, and her own guilt.

The film takes place primarily in Paris. Lisa is Italian; Robert is American.