Customer Reviews

The Window [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Long considered one of the finest "B" films ever made, this taut little thriller benefits from realistic settings and the acting of little (and ultimately tragic) Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale and Paul Stewart. Bobby Driscoll won an award for his playing of Tommy - who doesn't seem to know reality from fantasy. Tommy lives with his parents in a poor tenement section of New York; one hot night he has his mom's permission to sleep outside on the fire escape. Tommy is kept awake by adult commotion coming from inside an opened window of another apartment, where he eventually witnesses a man being stabbed to death by a pair of scissors...An ingenious variation of the "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" theme, this taut little thriller builds up to an exciting climax which has the little guy ingeniously evade the murderers. Paul Stewart is chilling as he pursues Tommy and Ruth Roman does well as his equally cold-hearted wife. Barbara Hale is fine in a realistic portrayal of Tommy's mother; as the dad, Arthur Kennedy is merely okay. Three quarters of the film was shot on location in NYC & director Tetzlaff captures the atmosphere of dusty, derelict side streets and flyblown tenement exteriors. The climax, a chase at night across collapsing rooftops, is tense, well-composed and edited. Bobby Driscoll won a special juvenile award for his winning portrayal of Tommy. Sadly, in 1968, Driscoll was found dead of drug abuse - in a run-down abandoned tenement in NYC. Ironic.

I SAW THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS SMALL AND SWORE I WOULD NEVER TELL A FIB AGAIN: GREAT ACTING BY BOBBY DRISCOLL. THIS MOVIE IS NOT VERY LONG BUT IT KEEP ON MOVING. A GREAT CHILDRENS MOVIE, IF THEY SEE AND THEY ARE LIARS, THEY WILL NEVER LIE AGAIN.

This kid Bobby Driscoll is excellent. He steals the whole movie. There were a few "I can't believe this" in the movie. What a brave kid.

Eleven-year-old Bobby Driscoll won a special Oscar for his work in THE WINDOW. Driscoll portrays Tommy Woodry-- a little boy with a big imagination. Tommy's many fantasies and outright lies have in the past caused problems for his parents, so now this "boy who cried wolf" one too many times has a serious credibility problem.

One stifling summer night, Tommy gets permission to sleep on the family's second floor fire escape. While outside, Tommy witnesses a murder in the apartment above through a partially-raised shade. Joe Kellerson (Stewart) stabs a man in the back with scissors.

Tommy wakes his mom (Hale) and tells what he saw; she dismisses this report as another piece of fiction and tells him to go to bed. In the morning, Tommy's insistence that he's seen a homicide angers Ed Woodly (Kennedy), and the boy is sent to his room to "think about" these many lies.

Instead, the determined kid slips away and runs to the police to report the crime. A detective brings Tommy home, goes upstairs, tells Mrs. Kellerson (Roman) that he's a building inspector, and looks around the apartment. Seeing nothing unusual, he leaves.

Jean K. is alarmed by the visit and gets more so when Tommy and mother Mary come knocking. She wants her child to apologize to the neighbor for stories he's telling but the frightened Tommy refuses and runs downstairs.

When Joe Kellerson returns home that night, Jean (correctly) insists that the boy downstairs knows about the killing. She drops off a telegram to Mary Woodly that the Kellersons received "by mistake." Mary is needed out of time to nurse a sick relative, and Ed, who works overnights tells his son he must stay home by himself. Terror-stricken, Tommy begs to go with his mom or dad, but is refused.

The last half-hour of this story is a perfect exercise in sheer terror. "The Window" is a film not to be missed. Highest recommendation!


As of 7/09, "The Window" was not available on DVD.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(7.6) The Window (1949) - Barbara Hale/Arthur Kennedy/Paul Stewart/Ruth Roman/Bobby Driscoll

Bobby Driscoll is not a name familiar to most people, unless they are die-hard classic movie fans. Driscoll's career was short, but that wasn't because he couldn't act. This movie shows his talents as a young boy who cries wolf and then pays for it, big-time.

The first 40 minutes of this film deals with that "wolf" angle. It goes a bit too long and begins to drag the story down a bit, but stay with it. Once the killers come looking for the boy (Driscoll), the film suddenly becomes extremely tense. In fact, the tension is so strong the last 30 minutes that there are scenes you almost can't bear to watch.

Story-wise, there are some credibility questions, mainly "Why would good parents - as portrayed here by Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy - leave their 10-year-old all alone all night?" But, ignoring that, the film is entertaining and has a good ending, so I have no complaints.

Hale went on to became famous as Perry Mason's secretary on television. Kennedy is always interesting no matter what film he is in, and Paul Stewart is effective as the villain.

As of this writing, the VHS tape is long out-of-print, and there is no DVD available yet, sad to say. Hopefully, that oversight will be corrected soon. This film is a valuable part of anyone's film noir collection.