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It deals with three escaped convicts , on the run from the law, move into a married couple's house and takes over their lives. As a Psychotic criminal, Glen Griffin's about to go on trial escapes from his pursuers . As a trio (Humphrey Bogart , Dewey Martin , Robert Middleton) try to make their getaway . They hide out at the house of a good family, the Hilliard formed by the uprighter father (Fredric March) , mother (Martha Scott) , the teen daughter (Mary Murphy) and a little boy (Richard Eyer). Now it appears the Hilliards have problems of their own. A reign of violence sweeps the screen.The First Picture in Black and White VistaVision. At the height of fear every moment is a desperate hour.Glen Griffin is looking for a place to call home... Just for a few hours.Who is stronger? A psychopath who feeds on terror? Or a father driven by fear? Only time will tell.Desire is the deadliest weapon of all.

A nice thriller based on a ful play and the result is a taut , suspenseful , twisted movie , made with a wonderful cast and all the expertise and power at Wiliiam Wyler's command . Joseph Hayes, the source novelist and playwright of the 1954 novel and 1955 play, also wrote the screenplay for Horas desesperadas (1955), and also co-wrote the script for this version.The source stage play was a box-office smash hit on Broadway, and won Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Direction for Robert Montgomery. The original Broadway production of "The Desperate Hours", written by Joseph Hayes opened on February 10, 1955, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, where it ran for two hundred twelve performances until August 13, 1955. The play had previously opened in New Haven's Shubert Theatre in 1955, before re-launching on Broadway in August 1955. This classic The desperate hours (1955) had an inferior remake being released thirty-five years later in 1990 directed by Michael Cimino with Michael Rourke , Anthony Hopkins , Mimi Rogers , Kelly Lynch , Shawnee Smith . This movie was the third English language version of the story, being released twenty-three years after the television movie version , though the latter was critically poorly received and was a commercial failure at the box-office; however the vintage Bogart rendition received awesome critics.

The motion picture was compellingly directed by the maestro William Wyler . Wyler was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema and the winner of three Best Director Academy Awards . Wyler was a great professional who had a career full of successes in all kind of genres as Film Noir : ¨Detective story¨ , ¨The desperate hours¨ , ¨Dead End¨ ; Western : ¨The Westener¨, ¨Friendly persuasion¨ , ¨Big Country¨ , but his speciality were dramas as : ¨Jezebel¨ , ¨The letter¨ , ¨Wuthering Heights¨ , ¨The best years of our lives¨, ¨Mrs Miniver¨, ¨The heiress¨ , ¨the little Foxes¨ , ¨The collector¨ and Comedy as two films starred by Audrey Hepburn : ¨How to steal a million¨ and of course ¨Roman's holiday¨ with Audrey at her Oscar-winning best and immortal comedy-romance. This ¨Desperate hours has a rating 7.5/10, better than average , well worth watching .

These are the times when danger looks us in the face, when terror, torment, tyranny lends an embrace, as all we cherish and endear, goes toe to toe with every fear, and the world that was secure, falls out of place. When every movement of the clock is an attack, facades of life engraved with fractures, widened cracks - tremors, trembles, quaking dread, in not too long, you might be dead, as the desperation reaches, a climax.

It's of its time but it does still stand up to be counted all these years later, with superb performances throughout, especially HB, who as an actor matured with magnificence in the latter years of his movie making career.

Humphrey Bogart got his first real notice on the silver screen in The Petrified Forest, repeating a role he did on Broadway. As Duke Mantee, criminal on the run, he held the occupants of a diner hostage for several hours.

Here in The Desperate Hours, Bogey takes over a role that Paul Newman originated on Broadway. Bogart, Dewey Martin and Robert Middleton play three escaped convicts who drive to Indianapolis because Bogart wants to kill the officer that arrested him. Dewey Martin is Bogart's younger brother and Robert Middleton is their brutal partner in the escape.

Given the age difference between Bogart and Paul Newman, I'm sure the role of Glenn Griffin was played quite differently by Newman on stage. Similarly Karl Malden played Dan Hilliard on stage and Fredric March plays him for the screen. March is no hero here, he's just an ordinary family man trapped with his family in a terrible situation.

Rounding out the Hilliard family is wife Martha Scott, daughter Mary Murphy and son Richard Eyer. Martha Scott had appeared with March before as his wife in One Foot in Heaven. She does well here also, but I do wonder where the real Mrs. March was, Florence Eldridge. It seems like a good joint project for both of them.

The Desperate Hours is a good suspenseful thriller that will keep you glued to your seat. These are real people here, not some Hollywood type situation comedy family. You will care about what the eventual outcome will be.

Few actors can play a gangster like Humphrey Bogart and few actors can play a decent family man like Fredric March. Both combine to give excellent performances in this thriller that explores three desperate men invading an upper middle class home after escaping from prison. William Wyler sees to it that his audience feels confined as most all the scenes are within the home. It builds to a dramatic conclusion that might not be what you expect but non-the-less believable. You feel empathy for Bogarts character and for that of his brother but ,even so, you will be rooting for the family to survive. An excellent cast adds a lot to this film. There are a few overly dramatic moments, however, they are brief.Desperate Hours will entertain you and keep you guessing. Try and see it!

THE DESPERATE HOURS

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (VistaVision)

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white)

The patriarch of a middle-class suburban family (Fredric March) is forced to take action when they're held hostage in their own home by three escaped convicts, one of whom (Humphrey Bogart) is an experienced lifer with nothing to lose...

The first and only pairing of superstars Bogart and March is a tightly-wound thriller, written by Joseph Hayes (based on his novel and stageplay, inspired by actual events), and directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, distancing himself from the 'women's pictures' he had helped to popularize during the 1940's (THE LITTLE FOXES, MRS. MINIVER, THE HEIRESS etc.). Photographed in gleaming deep-focus VistaVision by Lee Garmes (SCARFACE, THE PARADINE CASE), the movie wrings incredible tension from the claustrophobic settings and frequent stand-offs between staunch family man March and embittered con Bogart. The movie's themes are fairly conservative and the outcome is never really in doubt, but this is a top-drawer thriller from Hollywood's 'golden age'. Also starring Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin and Gig Young in crucial supporting roles. Unmissable.

NB. Though nowhere near as dreadful as most critics would have you believe, Michael Cimino's remake DESPERATE HOURS (1990) isn't a patch on the original.