Five Finger Exercise [sic] is a 1962 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Frederick Brisson from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on the play by Peter Shaffer.

To film the scene in which Walter rescues Pamela from drowning, a special team of lifeguards, first-aid providers and highway patrol officers was assembled to ensure safety.

The measure of its artificiality is in the performance that Rosalind Russell gives as a selfish and snobbish American woman who drives her husband, son and daughter to blank despair.

... Daniel Mann's direction suggests that he knew what he was doing—the continuity and approach to individual scenes is fine—but at the same time it shows no grasp nor particular interest in the drama's fascinating undertones.

"[10] However, critic Cyrus Durgin praised the film in his review for The Boston Globe: "'Five Finger Exercise,' on the screen as upon the stage, is theatrical enterprise of quality.

... [O]nce the drama of the family dissension begins to mount, so does the emotional temperature, and slowness and lack of visual variety do not seem to matter.