Recently I saw "The Talented Mr. Ripley" with Matt Damon and I thought it'd be interesting to see the first adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel. Rene Clement's Purple Noon was shot in 1959 and opened in 1960. It won the Edgar for Best Foreign film in 1962. Martin Scorsese wanted to prevent the film from disappearing and Miramax re-released it in 1996. Devastatingly handsome Alain Delon plays Tom Ripley, a man of modest means, who gets hired by a rich American to retrieve his son, Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), from Italy. Instead, Ripley becomes a "double agent" and befriends Philippe and his fiancee Marge (Marie Laforet). Philippe lives off his trust fund and leads an unconcerned, jet set lifestyle. He's an unscrupulous egotist who abuses his girlfriend and is only interested in having fun. Since Tom can't get him to at least write a letter to his father, Greenleaf Sr. wants Tom to come back to the US. Tom decides to kill Philippe and take on his identity (and take over his money and his fiancee while he's at it). What follows is an amazing and breathless story of cover-up and escaping. Delon is superb as the streetsmart forger and murderer. In a short cameo in the beginning you can see the late Romy Schneider. The score was written by Nino Rota, who also wrote the music for La Dolce Vita. Purple Noon sticks closer to the novel than does The Talented Mr. Ripley; this makes, among other things, for a more satisfying ending.
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