Copyright 1 November 1951 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 6 November 1951. U.S. release: November 1951. U.K. release: December 1951. Australian release: 15 August 1952. Paramount delayed the Australian release because they wanted the film showcased at the Prince Edward. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 15 August 1952 (ran six weeks, second only to Here Comes the Groom as that theater's highest-grossing picture of 1952. Yes, Detective Story sold many more tickets than A Place in the Sun). 9,314 feet. 103 minutes.
NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Hudson on 23 March 1949, running a most successful 581 performances. Ralph Bellamy played McLeod. Lee Grant, Joseph Wiseman, Michael Strong and Horace McMahon reprized their Broadway roles for the film version. Also in the play were James Westerfield, Meg Mundy, Alexander Scourby, Maureen Stapleton, Edward Binns, our favorite actor Robert Strauss, Lou Gilbert, Jean Adair, Warren Stevens, Joan Copeland, Les Tremayne and Harry Worth. Playwright Kingsley directed, Boris Aronson designed the set, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse produced.
Nominated for AMPAS Awards for:— Best Actress, Eleanor Parker (won by Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Supporting Actress, Lee Grant (Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Directing, William Wyler (George Stevens for A Place in the Sun); Best Screenplay (A Place in the Sun). Number 5 on the Ten Best American Films of 1951 selected by The National Board of Review. Number 4 on the composite list of the Ten Best Films of 1951 compiled by The Film Daily in its annual survey of U.S. film critics.
COMMENT: Even today, Sidney Kingsley's Detective Story is a compellingly forceful piece of theater. Full credit must go to Wyler and his writers for retaining the structure, atmosphere and power of the play, yet making it seem so cinematic that we are rarely aware that we're watching a stage play not a film.
Wyler is assisted in this masterful illusion by as fine a troupe of players as has ever been assembled for a transfer from Broadway to Hollywood. Kirk Douglas gives the performance of his career. So does Eleanor Parker; and also Horace McMahon (who was rarely handed a film role of comparable importance to this one).
And if George Macready were not already one of our favorite villains, we would be giving him a Guernsey too.
NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Hudson on 23 March 1949, running a most successful 581 performances. Ralph Bellamy played McLeod. Lee Grant, Joseph Wiseman, Michael Strong and Horace McMahon reprized their Broadway roles for the film version. Also in the play were James Westerfield, Meg Mundy, Alexander Scourby, Maureen Stapleton, Edward Binns, our favorite actor Robert Strauss, Lou Gilbert, Jean Adair, Warren Stevens, Joan Copeland, Les Tremayne and Harry Worth. Playwright Kingsley directed, Boris Aronson designed the set, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse produced.
Nominated for AMPAS Awards for:— Best Actress, Eleanor Parker (won by Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Supporting Actress, Lee Grant (Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Directing, William Wyler (George Stevens for A Place in the Sun); Best Screenplay (A Place in the Sun). Number 5 on the Ten Best American Films of 1951 selected by The National Board of Review. Number 4 on the composite list of the Ten Best Films of 1951 compiled by The Film Daily in its annual survey of U.S. film critics.
COMMENT: Even today, Sidney Kingsley's Detective Story is a compellingly forceful piece of theater. Full credit must go to Wyler and his writers for retaining the structure, atmosphere and power of the play, yet making it seem so cinematic that we are rarely aware that we're watching a stage play not a film.
Wyler is assisted in this masterful illusion by as fine a troupe of players as has ever been assembled for a transfer from Broadway to Hollywood. Kirk Douglas gives the performance of his career. So does Eleanor Parker; and also Horace McMahon (who was rarely handed a film role of comparable importance to this one).
And if George Macready were not already one of our favorite villains, we would be giving him a Guernsey too.