Main Cast: Barbara Hale, Bobby Driscoll, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 73 minutes
Plot
Widely regarded as a "model" B-movie thriller, The Window stars Bobby Driscoll as a young boy prone to fibs. Thus, no one believes him when he claims to have seen a murder in a neighboring apartment. No one, that is, except the killers (Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman). Realizing he won't get any help from his parents (Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy) or the law, the boy must figure out a way to save himself from being shut up permanently by the murderers. The film's hair-rising and oft-imitated climax, which takes place in a rotting abandoned tenement, has lost none of its edge over the past five decades. A much-needed hit for financially strapped RKO Radio Pictures, The Window was remade in 1960 as The Boy Cried Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
There's no fat on The Window, a super-duper thriller that deservedly was voted "Best Mystery of the Year" by the Mystery Writers of America. Window is a taut and terrifying variation on the "boy who cried wolf" story that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats for the entire final half hour of its 73-minute running time. Credit certainly goes to Mel Dinelli's streamlined screenplay, which takes just enough time setting up its characters and situation before pushing the throttle into high gear for the kicks and action. But even more credit should be bestowed on director Ted Tetzlaff, who clearly learned from his work as a cinematographer for Alfred Hitchcock (among others). Teztlaff knows how to get the maximum voltage from every twist and turn, but he also knows how to highlight telling characteristics, as well as the importance of setting and atmosphere. Working with cinematographer William Steiner, Jr., he creates a claustrophobic, heat-ravaged world that is every bit as important as the human characters. Those characters are very well played by adults like Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale, but it's young Bobby Driscoll who simply amazes. His is a first rate performance, one of the most perfectly honed of any juvenile performer; there are no false notes, no missteps, no cutesiness. It's a gripping performance in a gripping film. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Tom Aheame; Richard Benedict - Drunken Seaman; Carl Faulkner - Police Officer; Budd Fine - Police Officer; Charles Flynn - Police Officer; Jim Nolan - Stranger on Street; Lee Phelps - Police Officer; Anthony Ross - Ross; Carl Saxe - Police Officer; Ken Terrell - Man; Edgar Small; Tex Swan - Milkman
Credit
Walter E. Keller - Art Director, Sam Corso - Art Director, Ted Tetzlaff - Director, Frederic Knudtson - Editor, Roy Webb - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, William Steiner Jr. - Cinematographer, Dore Schary - Producer, Frederic Ullman, Jr. - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, Harley Miller - Set Designer, Russell A. Cully - Special Effects, A. Earl Wolcott - Sound/Sound Designer, Terry Kellum - Sound/Sound Designer, Mel Dinelli - Screenwriter, Cornell Woolrich - Short Story Author
The Window (1949) is a black-and-white suspense film noir based on the short story "The Boy Cried Murder" (reprinted as "Fire Escape")[1] by Cornell Woolrich.[2] The film, which was a critical success, was produced by Frederic Ullman, Jr. for $210,000 but earned much more, making it a box office hit for RKO Pictures. The film was directed by Ted Tetzlaff, who worked as a cinematographer for over 100 films, including another successful suspense film, Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946).
Set and filmed on location in the tenement section of New York's Lower East Side, the film tells the story of a young boy (Driscoll), who has a habit of crying wolf.
Late one night, he climbs up the building fire escape and sees two people murder a drunken sailor. No one, not even the boy's parents, believes young Tommy when he tells what he has seen, since they all assume that this is just another of the boy's tall tales.
The murderous neighbors find out the boy is a witness to the killing and plan the same for him when his parents are away. Tommy fears that the killers are out to get him, so he runs away from home only to be caught by the two.
A young boy (actor Bobby Driscoll) witnesses a murder when he spies through a window.
When the film was first released, The New York Times lauded the film and wrote, "The striking force and terrifying impact of this RKO melodrama is chiefly due to Bobby's brilliant acting, for the whole effect would have been lost were there any suspicion of doubt about the credibility of this pivotal character. Occasionally, the director overdoes things a bit in striving for shock effects, such as when the half-conscious boy teeters on the rail of a fire-escape or is trapped on a high beam in an abandoned house on the verge of collapse. However, though you may be aware of contrivance in these instances, it is not likely that you will remain immune to the excitement. Indeed, there is such an acute expression of peril etched on the boy's face and reflected by his every movement as he flees death in the crumbling house that one experiences an overwhelming anxiety for his safety."[3]
Film critic Dennis Schwartz discussed the noir aspects of the film and wrote, "The city slum is pictured as not an easy place to raise a child, as there appears no safe place to play. Though the times have changed, this taut tale nevertheless remains gripping and realistic. The modern city is not any less dangerous than the postwar years of the 1940s (undoubtedly even more dangerous). This film noir thriller exploits the meaning of the American dream to work hard for all the material things that were becoming available and ultimately find a utopia in the suburbs, as it cries out for the children left to their own devices to survive in such harsh surroundings as their parents have become too busy to raise them properly."[4]
TV Guide praised the film and wrote in a review of the film, "...this incredibly tense nail-biter stars Driscoll as a young boy who has a habit of crying wolf...The Window presents a frightening vision of helplessness, vividly conveying childish frustration at being dismissed or ignored by one's parents. Director and onetime cameraman Tetzlaff adroitly injects a maximum of suspense into the film, enabling the audience to identify with Driscoll's predicament and, interestingly, to view his parents as evil, almost as evil as the murderers themselves. Having photographed Hitchcock's Notorious just three years before, Tetzlaff had, without a shadow of a doubt, learned something of his suspense-building craft from the master of that art (as did just about every working director)...An exceptional film.[5]
Awards
Wins
Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Edgar, Best Motion Picture, Mel Dinelli and Cornell Woolrich; 1950.
