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After picking up a cut-rate DVD box set containing 100 "mystery" films that have lapsed into the public domain I came across this thriller from 1951 about a dutiful housewife who watches her bedridden husband slip into paranoia. Whether the film possesses film noir bona fidas is not the question; the answer is that the film is quite effective at stirring up Hitchcock like thrills for the picture's final reels. The filmmakers even inject a note of ambiguity at the film's conclusion enough to make you wonder if the film's climax could perhaps be viewed from a different perspective.

Like so many films of the era there are several things that do raise humorous eyebrows these days. At the onset Loretta Young is doing "housework"; struggling with an unruly vacuum cleaner while wearing an elegant dress that would be more than appropriate attire for a four star restaurant. It really wasn't that long ago that millions of women would have killed for Young's sedate upper middle class existence as a "housewife." The idea that a doctor would make a house-call (let alone two house-calls in one day) is a humorous artifact of a bygone era. Redgardless of the anachronistic humor, "Cause For Alarm" is a pleasant diversion.

In addition to a really good performance from Loretta Young as the increasingly desperate Ellen Jones, I give great credit to director Tay Garnett for the very effective build-up of suspense, which shifts gears partway through the movie but doesn't miss a beat in doing so. As Ellen, Young is playing a woman trying to nurse her gravely ill husband back to health. Unfortunately, George Jones' poor health has led him to become increasingly paranoid, and he's come to the conclusion that Ellen and his doctor are in love and trying to murder him. Ellen tries her best to "put on a happy face" as she deals with her increasingly difficult spouse, and then discovers that a letter she mailed for him was actually directed to the District Attorney, and accused her and the doctor of planning his murder. (As an added complication, George actually dies after the letter is sent.) The movie then shifts from George's paranoia to Ellen's desperation, as, after George dies, she frantically tries to get the letter back before it reaches the DA, but with every more desperate attempt to get the letter she seems to set herself up as more guilty. Where and how will this end?

It's a very well done movie, with a lot of little things that gave it a feel of authenticity: the nosy neighbours, and the neighbourhood kid who pretends to be Hopalong Cassidy showing up at Ellen's house looking for cookies. The opening scenes, explaining how George and Ellen met and their mutual relationship with Dr. Graham, went on perhaps a bit too long. Then, at the end, there is an expected twist (because you always expect a surprise twist in a movie like this) but the expected twist wasn't the twist I was expecting, and it provided a somewhat humorous (and perhaps, therefore, slightly out of place) ending to an overall very enjoyable film.

"Cause for Alarm" isn't a great film but it captures the noir cinematic scene of the postwar period fairly well. Loretta Young's frenetic pursuit through hot suburban California streets to retrieve a dangerous missive is well done. Is anyone really convincing in a story of a WWII pilot working in the insurance industry and detouring into paranoia while stricken with a cardiac condition? Nah, probably not. But the movie is a nice visit back to the fifties.

Early in the film Loretta Young walks out to her driveway and encounters - a celluloid ME. Attired in the exact same garb I wore in '51, a black cowboy outfit with two six(cap)-guns and riding a trusty trike, a not particularly adept child actor passes himself off as the one-and-only Hopalong Cassidy (as we grew older he became "Hopalong Catastrophe" but in the early fifties he was our unsullied hero). This kid even has the same toy I remember treasuring.

All that nostalgia aside, this short film is diverting albeit not the finest example of noir cinema. Loretta Young was as beautiful as she was talented. Barry Sullivan is appropriately nuts and most of the rest of the cast give dependable color to their roles.

This film definitely belongs in any noir retrospective.

CAUSE FOR ALARM boasts a fine leading lady in the talented Loretta Young who is believable in the everywoman role she plays here. Barry Sullivan as her sick and mentally unbalanced husband George Jones hits just the right note as well. While the film is somewhat dated in terms of the here and now, it has some very gripping and suspenseful moments especially involving the very real panic surrounding the letter George sent the district attorney due to his psychotic delusion that his wife and his doctor (her old friend) were plotting to kill him. In fact the ending here does cast a little doubt in the viewer's mind making this film even more intriguing. Any fan of suspense thrillers should enjoy this one.

Loretta Young was 38 when she made "Cause for Alarm" and the actress, who started in silent films, was a couple of years away from beginning her highly successful television series. Because Hollywood back in the golden era didn't have much use for actresses over 30, and no use for actresses over 35, Young, like many of her counterparts, had descended into B films by the time the '50s hit. This is one. Her costar is Barry Sullivan, who plays her bedridden husband. Ill with a heart condition, the troubled man has given into his paranoid instincts and become convinced that his best friend, a doctor, and Young, who was once his nurse, are trying to kill him. He writes a letter to the district attorney and gives it to his wife to mail. When he later tells her what's in the letter, she spends the rest of the film trying to get it back. Irving Bacon is quite funny and irritating as the talkative, whiny postman.

The beautiful Young is over her head in this drama - she's totally hysterical and the character as essayed by her can't keep control over her panic for two seconds. It's an annoying performance rather than being a sympathetic one. You just want her to calm down. Loretta Young's greatest asset during her career was her great beauty, fashion sense, and the gentle, lovely quality she brought to many roles, such as in "The Bishop's Wife." Playing a frantic, middle class housewife just wasn't her thing.

Sullivan's role is not well drawn; the story had more potential than was able to be explored even in the hands of a fine director like Tay Garnett. All in all, pretty routine.

Loretta Young acts up a storm as a woman (Ellen) married to a terminally ill man (George) who believes she is planning to murder him. Husband Barry Sullivan composes a letter to the District Attorney, explaining how exactly Young will commit the murder…

The film is a showcase for Young, and she delivers a fine performance. The story, however, is very hard to accept. There are many things happening on the screen which needed to be more fully explained. For starters, the husband's illnesses - how does his heart condition affect his mind as manifested on screen? Then, there are several actions Young takes which do not seem to be the choices most level-headed thinking individuals would take. So, maybe she's not exactly a level-headed thinking individual?

****** Cause for Alarm! (1951) Tay Garnett ~ Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling

When I came across this film on PBS I wasn't going to watch, but it has an attractive quality that sort of sucks you in. Once things started rolling I was glued. It proves that you don't need expensive sets and/or effects to make a great film.

"Cause for Alarm" is suspenseful, and creative, and the only film of it's kind that I have ever come across. I'd recommend it for anyone who doesn't mind watching a black & white with a better plot and better acting than most movies made now-a-days.

I wouldn't be surprised if some big-shot producer somewhere came along in the next few years or so to remake this film. They do it to anything good. It's too easy to take something that's already good, put some frills on it, and release it in theaters as the beautiful banal junk that plays in theaters now. I'm not about to stand on a soap box and go off on a tangent.

So... I recommend that you check this one out! It's worth your time.

Cause for Alarm! is directed by Tay Garnett and adapted to screenplay by Mel Dinelli and Tom Lewis from a story written by Larry Marcus. It stars Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan and Bruce Cowling. Music is scored by Andre Previn and cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg.

George Jones is suffering from a heart condition and confined to his bed. An aloof and suspicious man, he assumes his wife and doctor, the latter a good friend, are conspiring to poison him and outlines his suspicion in a letter to the District Atttorney. Getting his wife to pass the letter on to the postman, he gleefully tells his wife what he has done. So when he actually does die, shortly after, wife Ellen panics and sets about retrieving the letter.....

Slight plot but well acted, Cause for Alarm! is an efficient pot boiling thriller. Tagged as a "suburban noir," it's a film that has had an up and down experience in terms of critical appraisal. What we can say now is that it does carry with it a degree of ambiguity, where once back in the day it was seen as a straight forward narrative, with Young's ever increasingly fraught wife trying to correct a wrong she hasn't in fact done; now it's quite possible that her telling of the story (via narration) is "arguably" a hokey smoke screen for a dastardly deed. It's the ambiguity, to me at least, that gives the film watchable value. For without it the film just plays out as a chase and deceive movie, one with a couple of colourful characters inserted in for plot suspense enhancement, and featuring a clumsy character thread about parental yearning.

Production (in 14 days) and cast performances are good. Young engages by exuding genuine sweaty stress, and supporting turns from Margalo Gillmore and Irving Bacon, as annoyingly talkative aunt and postman respectively, leave favourable marks. Direction from multi genre helmer Garnett is nicely on the simmer, while Ruttenberg's photography brings shadows and light to this twitchy part of suburbia. But the ending, if indeed there are no tricks being played, is a thoroughly unsatisfying outcome. There are those who have delved deep in search of meaning and explanations of character motives and reactions, with that the film has an aura of mystery about it. Certainly there are more questions than answers unfolded during the relatively short running time, and that's OK, we like that Sullivan's bile based husband courts no sympathy. However, it may well be that the film was merely just meant to be a suspenseful little ole race against time drama, a tale about a woman who just married a less than honourable man.

It's watchable and the paranoia elements do indeed bring it into the film noir realm, but your enjoyment of it may depend on if you side with the theory that there is more than meets the eyes and ears. Personally I have my doubts, and the thought of having to watch it again is about as appealing as painting Loretta's picket fence on the hottest day of the year. 5/10

This film must be what passed for a 'chick flick' in the 1950's. It helps if you are a Loretta Young fan, and their are many of us. She is ably supported by Barry Sullivan and by the capable direction of Tay Garnett. Maybe 'tense drama' would be a better way to describe this picture as it barely falls under the heading of Film Noir - no violent confrontations, no dark, wet back alleys here, just sustained suspense, especially in the second half of the film. Miss Young is in almost every scene and the production seems almost stage-bound as it takes place mostly in the home of Young and Sullivan, with a few exterior shots thrown in.

Still, Miss Young gives a good performance and the movie holds the interest throughout, and is very worth watching.

I did not think I was as invested as I was in this film and in Loretta Young's character...but as she lost it at the end sobbing, I actually shed a tear which was a testament to Loretta young's phenomenal acting.

This is the story of a housewife who's husband is ill and in bed. She is working hard to care for him and take care of their home. The film takes place over the course of one difficult day. Her husband's friend and doctor makes a house call and notes that both husband and wife need to rest...then we see the husband's letter to the district attorney in which he paints a picture of victim claiming that his wife and best friend (his doctor) are trying to kill him.

Through the course of the day Loretta Young slowly breaks down. There is an adorable neighborhood boy and an observant...and it turns out kind neighbor, a disgruntled postman and a concerned aunt.

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package."-the aunt

This is an interesting and psychological suspense film. I enjoyed this more than I expected and it was in large part due to Loretta Young and her very believable performance. I recommend this film especially in today's error of girl on a train and woman across the street from the girl in the window.

Approach this film knowing that sometimes entertainment is entertaining solely for its own sake. There's no truly philosophical theme here. Nothing innovative. No Oscar-worthy components that would fire up engaging conversation among cinema junkies. Just plain fun.

I will say this is a must for die-hard Loretta Young fans. What she manages to accomplish in a minimal running time is exhilarating, in my opinion. Just follow her facial expressions, and you'll understand.

As far as the debate about its being or not being noir, it's important to remember that noir is NOT a genre, it's considered a style. The components of a noir film differ from offering to offering, and we could argue all day long as to whether a film contains those components or not.

But that's not the point of the film. It's simply a vehicle for Young to transition into the television era of the '50s. Look for a delicious performance by Margalo Gillmore, playing the nosey family member who never shuts up. She was so good, she made me giggle with excitement.

I saw this movie a few years ago, it came in a packaged deal,Cant get over how beautiful loretta young was,no need to add spoilers to this review,the introduction pretty much says it all,the suspense is almost hard to take sometimes, this poor woman goes thru hell trying to find something and at some point it seems the whole world is against her.

Some people claim loretta in this movie didn't come across as "a real wife", well obviously these folks have never interacted with a kept woman,thats exactly what she is in this movie,the typical 50s wife that needed permission from the husband to sneeze, not saying all women back then were like that but a great deal were.

Her desperation is this movie is so sad and its overwhelming at times for the viewer,its not your typical Noir since there are no detectives or murderous blondes,lol but it does have that "feel" to it, her husband is a Cad of the highest degree, not giving up anything by saying this, you will see it in the first 5 minutes of the movie.

As the movie progresses you will be rooting for Loretta that she accomplishes what ever it is that she needs to do, watch this movie,you might like it,I'm not a picky person at all so i enjoyed it,just happened to see the advert for it since most everything i watch are older movies,this review I'm making has made me want to watch the movie again,hope you like it like i did.

Ellen: "It's not something you think about (love), it's something that just happens"

There are all kinds of nightmares in this life (crime illness), that leading lady Loretta Young's bad day is one of the more unusual variety makes it no less "terrifying." The Oscar winner (Farmers) plays a gorgeous girl Friday, she with no shortage of suitors, won over by an Air Corps charmer (Sullivan) who returns home badly battered by the war. Bed ridden with heart trouble and delusions, Mr Jones accuses his dotting wife and family MD (Cowling) of being in cahoots, then pens his paranoia in letter to the D/A, tricking her into mailing it which sends Mrs Jones on a frantic chase to retrieve the libel.

This is that rarely seen USPS noir, and a short one (74m), with more credibility gaps than a junkie's confession, but if you like to dream, and that's what the classics are for, you fill-in those gaps and leave exactitude to the sabrmetric set. Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) said "hate keeps a man alive," but so does hope, the emotion more than any other that will distinguish dark drama from the un-paying crime kind. It was a rationed commodity in the early days of WW2 when the coupling of cataclysmic conflict & Allied angst gave birth to the genre that came to be called noir. After nearly an hour when Murphy's Law has held sway and despair seems an inescapable state, makers Garrnett (d), Lewis (p), Dinelli (s/p) and Marcus (radio) channel the Merchant of Venice ("so shines a good deed") and dole out a healing portion of that hope in form of a mailman (Bacon), or better put, a government guardian angel.

Watch for chatterbox Aunt Clara (Gillmore) who has more underneath that prim, casserole-stained exterior than meets the eye, like a keen wit and probably time on the chorus line. It's quite a ride you'll take with Loretta, the actress who played femme swell as well as any (Mans Castle), even peers, Olivia (Maid) & Joan (Eyre). To the ending, I've cried before but never with such heartfelt relief (3/4).

A bedridden husband becomes convinced that his wife and their doctor friend are trying to kill him. She unwittingly posts a letter to the DA outlining his suspicions and, when he dies suddenly after divulging its contents to her, she has to retrieve it.

Decent melodrama with Loretta Young as the dutiful wife and Barry Sullivan as the neurotic husband. Miss Young is convincing as the wife but, whilst entertaining, the second half of the film falls short of its early promise. Original music composed by a young André Previn.

A former Air Force pilot, George Jones (Barry Sullivan), who married Ellen (Loretta Young) during World War II, is quite ill; he is suffering from a heart condition and confined to his bed. An aloof and suspicious man, he assumes his wife and doctor, the latter a good friend, are conspiring to poison him and outlines his suspicion in a letter to the District Atttorney.

Getting his wife to pass the letter on to the postman, he gleefully tells his wife what he has done. So when he actually does die, shortly after, wife Ellen panics and sets about retrieving the letter.....

But that isn't easy ...

Loretta Young shines as a fraught wife who is accused of something she hasn't done and trying to correct it in Cause for Alarm, a clever and gritty thriller that is set in a quiet surbabia with noisy neighbours, a chatty intrusive aunty, an annoying postman and a kid who thinks he's Hopalong Cassidy- there's some naturalness to the setting and characterisation, but not to the point of being dull. It's an enjoyable mystery thriller that keep on one edge of the seat. Barry Sullivan is great, too, but he always is.

A 1951 film noir starring Loretta Young. Young is a happily married woman living w/a bedridden hubby, played by Barry Sullivan (who's had a heart attack) who starts to believe Young is stepping out w/a family friend, a doctor, played by Bruce Cowling. We get occasional flashbacks on how the couple met when he was an enlisted man & Young was a volunteer assigned to boost wounded troop morale which signals the pair was a sound one but in the present as Sullivan's mind starts to wander he decides to write an incriminating letter to the district attorney that Young killed him (he'd finally commit suicide) so when Young comes home one afternoon to find Sullivan's body, she spends the majority of the film trying to retrieve the letter before her proverbial goose is cooked. As the bureaucratic obstacles mount (the overheated postman, played by Irving Bacon, is particularly persnickety), we fear Young will not save herself. Except for a typically happy ending (because of the code of the time), Young (who according to Eddie Muller on TCM's Noir Alley returned to film after a lengthy absence, is aces here as the Hitchcockian noose tightens ever so slightly every time a roadblock is met.