{"id":27245,"date":"2023-10-17T02:04:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T09:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27245"},"modified":"2023-10-17T02:04:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T09:04:56","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-desperate-hours-1955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27245","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This title is now available as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d\nBlu-ray from Arrow Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s funny, while the famous thriller The Desperate Hours<\/em>\nis now considered a classic, it had a bumpy road to the screen and flopped\nduring its original release. Thankfully, people have lauded the film in the\nensuing years and now Arrow Video are helping to reestablish its legacy with a\nnew \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray. It features a 6K restoration of the original\nnegative (which shot in the \u201cVistaVision\u201d large film format). As one might\nexpect from the distributor, the movie looks better than ever and also comes\nwith plenty of interesting bonus content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by William Wyler (Roman Holiday, The Big\nCountry, Ben-Hur<\/em>), this claustrophobic feature is noted for being an early\nexample of the \u201chome invasion\u201d film and for having the famous star play the\nnasty villain. It\u2019s a beautifully shot film that ratchets up the tension\neffectively, honing in on an average middle-class family house as its major\nlocation. There\u2019s plenty of personal drama going on and some interesting themes\nbeing hinted at that help elevate the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tale is based on a hit novel that was released the year\nbefore and is set in a suburban neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana. It\nbegins with escaped convict Glenn Griffith (Humphrey Bogart, in his penultimate\nfilm role), his young brother Hal (Dewey Martin), and cohort Sam Kobish (Robert\nMiddleton) on the run from the law. They decide to hide out, enter a home and\ntake the residents hostage while they wait for funds to arrive from Glenn\u2019s\ngirlfriend. The unfortunate hostages are husband Daniel Hillard (Fredric\nMarch), his wife Ellie (Martha Scott), teenage daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy) and\nyoung son Ralph (Richard Eyer). Initially, Daniel hopes that the package will\narrive quickly and the gang will leave. But when nothing comes and hours pass\ninto days, the family have to figure out how to inform police without\nendangering themselves. Of course, the authorities do finally catch on, but\nthere is disagreement between cops as some seem predetermined to raid the house\nwith guns blazing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, Wyler makes use of several tense situations as\nDaniel and Ellie try to keep their angry, panicked captors from lashing out.\nTeenage Cindy is something of a rebel at home, but her boldness causes danger\nwhen young Hal takes an interest in her. If that wasn\u2019t enough for the family\nto contend with, blunt little Ralph is more than happy to give the convicts a\npiece of his mind. He idolizes his dad and has trouble understanding his pop\u2019s\nfear and unwillingness to square off against the big foe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we also witness criminals Glenn and Hal comment\nand ruminate over how well their hostages live. There\u2019s even a moving scene\nearly of Hal looking out the front window at night and watching suburban teens\ngather to go out and have some fun. It\u2019s something that the character has never\nexperienced and will likely never get the chance to participate in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The homes and rooms are wonderfully shot in deep focus, with\ncharacters often placed in the foreground and background. There are many rooms\nvisible through arches and doorways that subtly separate individuals into\ncell-like areas, as well as an open main hall with a second-floor banister and\nrailing that remind viewers of prison bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The close quarters lead to numerous outbursts and arguments\nthat eventually build into violence as the police close in. There are also some\nchilling moments as people stop by the house unaware of the situation within\nand find themselves being targeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A picture like this could have been delivered in a\nstraight-forward and predictable manner, but the impressive photography,\ndetailed character work, little moments of introspection and excellent\nperformances really make the picture stand out. Things do eventually close in a\nmanner that doesn\u2019t necessarily shock, but it\u2019s all delivered with more care\nand interest than many pictures with similar concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the film is set within a small space, the camera delivers plenty of impressive shots, sometimes shooting from low angles on the actors so others can be seen on the second floor. It all looks incredibly well shot and beautifully lit. As the story progresses and events ramp up, dark and threatening shadows become more prominent and really add to the tension.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For those curious about the movie\u2019s photography,\n\u201cVistaVision\u201d was a short-lived but interesting camera process for Paramount in\nwhich the negative ran through the camera horizontally instead of vertically.\nThis set-up allowed for a larger film frame image, resulting in higher picture\nresolution (without resorting to anamorphic widescreen formats). It appeared to\nwork quite well and this unique process was later adopted for formats like 70mm\nIMAX. So despite being nearly 70 years old, the picture on display looks\nremarkably clean and sharp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there are some wonderful extras. The film\nhistorian commentary is solid as always, presenting background information on\nthe production as well as details about the cast and crew. Naturally, a lot of\ntime is spent discussing Bogart and his relish in playing the film\u2019s heavy, as\nwell as the movie\u2019s unfortunate and disappointing box office returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also a lengthy appreciation of the movie from Jos\u00e9\nArroyo, Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of\nWarwick. He does an excellent job of identifying the themes and ideas being\npresented, with a great emphasis on how the camera set-ups accomplish these\ngoals. He goes into much greater detail on the angles and the effects they have\non the viewer, as well as other tidbits. It is a very informative listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there is a visual essay with a co-curator of the Melbourne Cin\u00e9math\u00e8que who focuses on the family dynamics of the era and some of the subtle power plays between characters. There\u2019s also a great interview with Catherine Wyler, daughter of William Wyler. She talks about visiting the set as a child, and notes that the house did have an ominous overtone when she walked through it. Another interesting bit involves her talking about how quickly the movie disappeared from theaters, and that her father\u2019s reaction about such a failure was simply to forget about it and move on to the next project. Wyler also notes another title or two from her dad that she thinks deserves attention and a revisit from movie historians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If that wasn\u2019t enough, there are also some fun publicity\nmaterials like lobby cards and a trailer. The \u201cLimited Edition\u201d also contains\nan illustrated booklet with more essays on the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Desperate Hours<\/em> is a real gem from a famed and\ntalented director, alongside one of the greatest stars in motion picture\nhistory. This Blu-ray from Arrow Video has phenomenal image quality and great\nextras that will help viewers appreciate the picture even more. This disc is\nhighly recommended to anyone who enjoys movie classics.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This title is now available as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video. It\u2019s funny, while the famous thriller The Desperate Hours is now considered a classic, it had a bumpy road to the screen and flopped during its original release. Thankfully, people have lauded the film in the ensuing years and now Arrow Video […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[84,1836,2939,3067,5764,5817,7910,9272,9489,13301,15707,17177,19420,20470,20471,20472,22825,24327],"class_list":["post-27245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-84","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray","tag-desperate-hours-blu-ray","tag-dewey-martin","tag-fredric-march","tag-home-invasion","tag-humprey-bogart","tag-martha-scott","tag-paramount-pictures","tag-robert-middleton","tag-suspense","tag-the-desperate-hours","tag-the-desperate-hours-blu-ray-review","tag-the-desperate-hours-review","tag-thriller","tag-william-wyler"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}