Decades before Michael Haneke's Funny Games or David Fincher's Panic Room, celebrated German-American director William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives) crafted this gripping home invasion thriller.
The story originated in 1952 with a real-life Indianapolis family, led by James and Elizabeth Hill, held hostage by three escaped convicts for 19 hours, inspiring local author Joseph Hayes to write a novel and a Broadway play followed by this 1955 motion picture adapted by the author and starring Oscar-winning actors Fredric March and Humphrey Bogart.
Wyler introduces the Hilliard family at the breakfast table. After fueling up for the day, Ralph (Richard Eyer from Wyler's Friendly Persuasion) goes off to school and March's Daniel drives 19-year-old Cindy (The Wild One's Mary Murphy) to work. Once everyone has gone, Ellie (Our Town's Martha Scott), a homemaker, picks up around the house. That's when Bogart's Glenn, his younger brother Hal (Dewey Martin), and Kobish (Robert Middleton), an exceptionally loose cannon, force their way inside the suburban home to hide from the authorities until Glenn's girlfriend wires the money they need to leave town.
The convicts chose the Hilliard home due to the abandoned child's bike in the yard. As Glenn explains to Ellie, "I love people with kids--they don't take no chances." Though scared out of her wits, she doesn't lose her head, not even when the clumsy, oafish Kobish starts breaking glassware and crockery--and Ralph's treasured toys--simply because he can.
The convicts may think they've found the perfect victims, but looks can be deceiving. Gradually, the rest of the family returns to find they're hostages in their own home with the convicts ordering them around like servants, but once Daniel gets the chance, he kicks Hal out of the house, while the rest of the clan goes after the other men. Kobish eventually finds an escape route, leaving the family alone with Glenn. Meanwhile, Cindy's boyfriend, Chuck (Gig Young, an Oscar winner for They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), wonders why she's acting so strange at the same time the deputy sheriff (Lawrence of Arabia's Arthur Kennedy) attempts to track the fugitives down. By the end, the two camps join forces to capture the convicts without harming the hostages.
If Bogart looks worse for wear in his penultimate film--the Tony Award-winning play starred Paul Newman and Karl Malden--he and March make for formidable opponents (Bogart would succumb to lung cancer two years later). With Nightmare Alley cinematographer Lee Garmes' deep focus, chiaroscuro lighting, Desperate Hours looks like a noir, but plays like a thriller. Though Bogart, March, and Wyler had a string of hits behind them, the film proved more popular with critics than audiences, possibly because the leads were considered past their prime, though Wyler and March had plenty of gas left in the tank.
This beautifully-restored Arrow release comes with an appreciation from José Arroyo, a visual essay from Eloise Ross, and a commentary track from Daniel Kremer, who discusses every aspect of the film, including the production design. If the middle class Hilliards recall the family in Leave It to Beaver, that isn't completely coincidental: the sitcom would use the same set.
What film collection does this belong in?
Desperate Hours belong with drama and film noir collections, along with other thrillers by William Wyler, like Detective Story.
What kind of film series would this movie fit in?
Desperate Hours would fit with series on films noir of the 1950s, films noir of the heartland, like Phil Karlson's Kansas City Confidential or Joel and Ethan Coen's Fargo, and series on the extensive filmographies of William Wyler and Humphrey Bogart.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming on the film noir and home invasion thriller could make use of Desperate Hours. It's harder-hitting than some noir films of the 1950s, but not as graphic as more recent home invasion thrillers, like Adam Wingard's You're Next.