Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31730 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-06
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Get out . . . Get out of my house . . . "
If I remember correctly "The Desperate Hours" was originally a stage play that was based on a true story. A photo-magazine ran a spread on either the play or the film with pictures of the "real" house and the family sued for invasion of privacy; one of their lawyers was Richard Nixon. Humphrey Bogart gets top-billing in "The Desperate Hours" as gangster on the lam Glenn Griffin, but this is really Frederic March's film. March plays businessman Dan Hilliard, who discovers his home has been invaded and his family taken hostage by Griffin's little band of criminals, which includes his kid brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and the brutish Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton). That morning Hilliard's biggest concerns had been Chuck Wright (Gig Young), the boyfriend of his daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy), the refusal of young sun Ralphie (Richard Eyer) to kiss his old man goodbye, and what wife Eleanor (Martha Scott) is going to make for dinner. Now he has to find a way to keep his family alive in a world where the police are perfectly willing to gun down unarmed criminals.

This is a taunt drama, carried mostly by the desperation of March's character, who fails every time he tries to prove the hero. Bogart's performance is notable because it is a return to the tough guy role that made him a star, only this time showing more restraint than we had seen two decades earlier. This 1955 film also stands as a testament to how much things have changed in Hollywood, because they would never allow for this clean of an ending to this situation, a point that would be obvious even without the horrible remake of this film with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins, which gives into the perceived need for sadistic violence. Ultimately what makes this film work is that the climax exceeds our expectations given the set-up. You have to admire how a man can walk into a house with an unloaded gun and save the day. The final confrontation between Hilliard and Griffin is powerful because it speaks to not only the fact that you can hurt somebody without killing them, but also that even confronted with barbarians there is still virtue in being a civilized man. I still watch the ending of this film every time I stumble across it on television. In fact, I just did.

Guidebook in filmmaking
William Wyler has got to be on everybody's shortlist for favourite filmmaker ever, with titles such as this one, 'Dodsworth', 'Come and Get It', 'Dead End', 'The Best Years of Our Lives' and 'Roman Holiday' on his conscience.
Even so, 'Desperate Hours' is easily his most stylish film, directed with genius and an easy musicality. The film never loosens its grip on you, and cinematographically it's always aout there, deepening the plot, adding texture, always choosing the exact right camera angle, no matter how innovative it is, it just looks ... natural. That's truly organic filmmaking for you! The DVD transfer is superb, and the item is even cheapish.

Clickety clickety click, Pop
This is one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. Humphrey Bogart is fantastic as Glenn Griffin, the other characters are convincing too.
I first saw that film years ago on German TV and I've always wanted to listen to the original English soundtrack. Now I could and I was not disappointed.