William Wyler shows all his talent and directing genius leading a splendid cast in this adaptation of Sidney Kingsley's 1949 play, set in a New York police station. Other reviewers have already written detailed analyses of this fine film and I should only like to emphasize how deeply impressed I am by a work that seems undeservedly forgotten these days. The excellent script is very well handled in cinematic terms and the action never drags, although mostly set indoors at the police station. The gallery of characters is fascinating. They are all interpreted with great skill by one of the best acting ensembles I have ever seen. Kirk Douglas fully deserved an Oscar nomination for his role as Det. James McLeod (surprisingly, he never got one, but that was the year of Bogart's THE African QUEEN, Brando's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, March's DEATH OF A SALESMAN and Clift's A PLACE IN THE SUN). Eleanor Parker, as McLeod's loving wife, and Lee Grant (recreating her stage role as the young shoplifter) are predictably outstanding. The Academy recognized their work by nominating them for Best Actress (Parker) and Best Supporting Actress (Grant), but that was the year in which Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter won for their legendary performances in STREETCAR. Grant won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival that year, a recognition she fully deserved (for her very first film role; one wonders how many brilliant performances she would have given us had she not been blacklisted by courageously defying the infamous House Committee on Un-American Activities). The remainder of the cast, in which William Bendix stands out as Det. Lou Brody, is a marvel of effortless, natural, intelligent, dynamic exchanges and integration. A masterpiece of its kind.
Review of Detective Story
