The Window (1949)

Note Générale:

7,6/10   

Réalisateur:

Ted Tetzlaff

Scénaristes:

Cornell Woolrich (story)
Mel Dinelli (screenplay)

Date de sortie:

18 novembre 1949 (France)

Genre:

Drame | Film-Noir | Thriller

Accroche:

It never lets you go!

Intrigue:

At the age of 9, Tommy Woodry has a reputation for telling tall tales -- the latest one being that his...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Parent | Police | Summer | Heat Wave

Récompenses:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

Another outstanding but much underrated thriller in that era...

Ensemble

Barbara Hale	...	Mrs. Mary Woodry
Arthur Kennedy	...	Mr. Ed Woodry
Paul Stewart	...	Joe Kellerson
Ruth Roman	...	Mrs. Jean Kellerson
Bobby Driscoll	...	Tommy Woodry

Durée:

73 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Classification:

UK:A | Finland:(Banned) (1949) | Finland:K-16 (1950) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #12861)

Lieux de tournage:

New York, USA

Société:

RKO Radio Pictures

Anecdotes:

This film was shot in the latter part of 1947 but shelved by RKO boss Howard Hughes and released in 1949. When Bobby Driscoll got his juvenile Oscar in 1950 he was 13 years old.

Goofs:

Continuité: After Tommy writes his note he leans it against a coffee cup. When Mr. Kelerson reads it, he lays it flat on the table. In the next shot of the kitchen table, the note is again leaning against the coffee cup.

Guillemet:

Joe Kellerson: Hello, Tommy. Now you be quiet if you don't wanna get hurt. What's the matter, have I ever done anything to you?
Tommy Woodry: [shakes his head]
Joe Kellerson: What are you runnin' around tellin' stories for?
Tommy Woodry: They're not stories!
Joe Kellerson: No? Well, maybe if you tell me what they are, I can explain. I don't want you thinkin' these terrible things. What is it you think I did?
Tommy Woodry: You know what you did!
Joe Kellerson: But I don't. I don't know what you're talkin' about. Now, c'mon, Tommy, let's be fair. You can't accuse me of something and not tell me what it is.
Tommy Woodry: You killed somebody!
Joe Kellerson: Oh, come on, Tommy. You don't really believe that, do ya?
Tommy Woodry: I was on the fire escape! I saw ya!
[...]

Connexions:

figure dans Crumb (1994)

Another outstanding but much underrated thriller in that era...

The central figure of 'The Window' was a slum ten-year-old boy (Bobby Driscoll), living in New York poor neighborhood and known to everyone there as a teller of fantastic stories…

His parents (Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale) warned him he must stop his fantasies… and what followed was a classic up-dating of the boy who cried 'wolf' once too often…

One stifling night, the boy climbed out on to a fire escape to seek cool air and, through a crack under a window blind, he witnessed a murder…

He knew no one would believe him although this time, for the first time, his story was true… He tried to tell his mother that he had seen a couple called Kellerson trying to rob a drunk and killing him in a fight: the boy got scolded for his imagination and sent to bed… His father locked him in for punishment; the boy escaped and took his story to the police station. A detective investigated, but could find no body, no signs of a struggle…

Now the awful irony: the guilty Kellersons learn through the detective that the boy had seen them committing the crime, and the boy's parents, with terrifyingly understandable logic, send the boy to the killers to apologize 'for spreading such an awful story about them'.

The Kellersons cannot decide: should they leave well alone, as nobody believes the boy; or should they commit another crime to cover the first?

'The Window' is a classic little second feature, entertaining and suspenseful; unfortunately it had few successful imitators…