Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (December 4, 2023)
Due to cancer, Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart died in early 1957 at the relatively young age of 57. For his second to last film, we go to 1955’s The Desperate Hours.
Along with his brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and fellow inmate Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton), violent criminal Glenn Griffin (Bogart) escapes from prison. On the lam, they wind up in a house located in a posh Indianapolis suburb.
This acts as the residence of the Hilliard family: married couple Dan (Frederic March) and Ellie (Martha Scott) as well as their 19-year old daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy) and their young son Ralph (Richard Eyer). This leads to a tense situation as the escapees hold the family hostage while they attempt to figure out their next steps.
As most movie buffs know, Bogart rose to fame with 1936’s The Petrified Forest. Bogart debuted in features six years earlier, so Forest became far from his first flick, but it turned him into a star.
Like I mentioned, Hours wound up as Bogart’s penultimate film, and it brought him full circle. Forest offered a fairly similar theme, as it revolved around a gangster – played by Bogart – who held innocent folks hostage in a café.
Though a flawed classic, Forest still sets a bar Hours can’t quite match. Nonetheless, the 1955 film becomes a pretty solid thriller in its own right.
Best-known for dramas like his two Oscar Best Picture winners 1942’s Mrs. Miniver and 1946’s Best Years of Our Lives as well as 1953’s romantic Roman Holiday, director William Wyler may seem like an odd choice for a tale like Hours. Indeed, Wyler did lean toward those genres, as two of his other three movies between 1942 and 1955 offered love-oriented dramas too.
However, the third pointed Wyler toward Hours. 1951’s Detective Story leaned in the same direction Wyler would follow here.
Despite Wyler’s relative inexperience with the genre, he does well with Hours. Wyler manages to create a fairly tight piece that leaves a lot of tension involved.
Hours violates some tenets of the “home invasion/kidnapping” genre in that it doesn’t restrict its action solely to the Hilliard house. Granted, I figured we’d see outside events related to the cops, but the movie actually allows various Hilliards to leave the home at times.
That creates an interesting twist, as it opens the movie to unusual opportunities. Though these present potential plot holes, Hours manages to make the scenes seem logical.
As I watched Hours, I couldn’t avoid the temptation to see if I could find clear signs of Bogart’s developing illness. After all, Bogart would pass away a mere 15 months after the movie’s release, so he was already in the throes during the flick’s shoot.
Nonetheless, I failed to discern any obvious signs that disease impacted Bogart’s performance, as he creates a classic gangster with all his usual bite. Granted, Bogart could probably play a role like this in his sleep, but he nonetheless brings power to the part.
The rest of the cast does well, too, though it seems bizarre that the filmmakers hired Gig Young to play Cindy’s boyfriend. 41 at the time – and a paunchy, craggy 41, too – the actor looks far too old to make sense as the teen character’s beau, even if Murphy was actually a slightly older 24.
At 113 minutes, Hours probably goes a little long for the genre. A film like this feels as though it might become a better fit with a tighter running time.
Despite some minor criticisms, though, I largely like Hours. While not quite a classic, it nonetheless delivers an engaging and clever genre effort.
