Corkscrew plots come no screwier than in this corker from the screenwriter of Charade. The plot is unfathomable, and it's not certain whether that's deliberate or simply a symptom of poor film-making. Gregory Peck stars as an amnesiac who finds himself in a variety of tense situations, aided, abetted and threatened by a fine supporting cast of spooks that includes George Kennedy and Walter Matthau (both of whom were in Charade). One could regard this paranoid nightmare as a reflection of director Edward Dmytryk's experience of the Hollywood blacklist.

After a blackout in his office building, accountant David Stillwell emerges outside to find out a man he did not know either jumped or was pushed out a window to his death — and that he can't remember the past two years of his life. Enlisting the help of a rookie private eye and a reluctant old flame, Stillwell uncovers the mystery detail by unexpected detail.