Sometimes a third wheel can be deadly. Based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley by American author Patricia Highsmith, René Clément’s Plein soleil (US: Purple Noon) tells the story of a young manipulator so smitten by the wealthy, leisured lifestyle that he devours another man’s identity to embody it. The third wheel is Tom Ripley (Alain Delon), a young American who ingratiates himself with wealthy playboy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) and his fiancée Marge (Marie Laforêt) as they lounge along the Italian Riviera (“Don’t feel sorry for him,” Greenleaf says about his friend. “All he cares about is money”). Ripley has been paid by Greenleaf’s father to bring his irresponsible son home to the States, but Ripley’s envy gets the better of him (our first warning sign is when he puts on Greenleaf’s clothes and kisses himself in the mirror glass) and he instead murders his wealthy friend to assume his identity and move in on Marge. It’s an irrational scheme — but then Tom is an irrational guy — so, of course, one murder won’t be enough. In his first major film role, Delon portrays an inner turmoil that is almost, but not quite, concealed by outer perfection, his charm overpowering his demons, his youthful good looks a natural match for the breathtaking Italian scenery and Nino Rota’s vividly beautiful score.