L'assassino sul tetto

Titolo originale: Appointment with a Shadow

1957
Approved
1h 12min

VALUTAZIONE IMDb

LA TUA VALUTAZIONE

Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaGeorge Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.George Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.George Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.

Vedi le informazioni sulla produzione su IMDbPro

VALUTAZIONE IMDb

6,5/10

513

LA TUA VALUTAZIONE

Vedi le informazioni sulla produzione su IMDbPro

Foto82

+ 78

Interpreti principali16

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George Nader

Paul Baxter

Joanna Moore

Penny Spencer

Brian Keith

Lt. Spencer

Virginia Field

Florence Knapp

Frank DeKova

Dutch Hayden

Stephen Chase

Sam Carewe

Ralph Brooks

Joe - Newspaper Man
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Raoul Freeman

Burlesque Club Patron
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Bill Hickman

Farrell - Police Detective
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Rusty Lane

Pat O'Connell - Bartender
(non citato nei titoli originali)

John Phillips

Reporter
(non citato nei titoli originali)
…

Fred Sadoff

Jeffrey Sayre

Burlesque Club Patron
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Charles Sherlock

Reporter
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Bert Stevens

Burlesque Club Patron
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Hal Taggart

Burlesque Club Patron
(non citato nei titoli originali)

Regia
- Richard Carlson
Sceneggiatura
Tutti gli interpreti e le troupe
Produzione, botteghino e altro su IMDbPro

Recensioni degli utenti15

6,5513

Recensioni in evidenza

6johno-21

Battle of the bottle

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs Film Noir Festival. Actor Richard Carlson is behind the camera as director for this film from the later part of the Film Noir genre. Paul Baxter (George Nader) is a former newspaper reporter who is washed up and unhireable at only 30 years old because he's an alcoholic. Penny Spencer (Joanna Cook Moore) is his soon to be former girlfriend who is giving him one last chance. She wants him to go on the wagon for one day and has arranged with her police detective brother Lt. Spencer (Brian Keith) for Paul to observe a stakeout and apprehension of the city's most wanted criminal. She's in the newspaper business herself and has put together a file on the criminal Dutch Hayden (Frank DeKova) for Paul to study up on so he can write a story of the arrest and scoop all the crime reporters which will lead to him getting a full-time newspaper job and he'll stop drinking and Paul and Penny will then be able to live happily ever after if only he can stop drinking for one day and write the story. I'm sure most people who have dealt with alcoholism and those who treat it would have a hard time buying into this 24 hour self curing treatment but the film does deal with the destructiveness of alcoholism. Paul is faced with a series of temptations throughout the film as he struggles to stay off the hooch. Virgina Field is in the cast as burlesque dancer Florence Knapp, the moll of Dutch Hayden. Alec Coppel and Norman Jolley write the screenplay based on an Argosy Magazine story by Hugh Penecost. Three time Oscar nominee William E. Snyder is the film's cinematographer. The story is highly implausible and simplistic but isn't too bad and it's a relatively short film at 73 minutes and I would give it a 6.0 out of 10.

6boblipton

Just Shy Of The Delirium Tremens

George Nader is a reporter. Perhaps more accurately, he was a reporter until his extreme alcoholism got him canned from every newspaper. Only fellow reporter Joanna Moore cares, and she persuades her brother, police lieutenant Brian Keith, to let Nader know about the forthcoming arrest of evil criminal Frank DeKova. But DeKova is dead, and Nader has the shakes so bad he can't hold a shot glass with two hands. Or is he? And can he?

Nader was never a big star, even by the standards of Universal, taking the roles that Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis turned down. Here, under the direction of Richard Carlson, he turns in a fine performance of a drunk on his last legs. Director Richard Carlson -- he was much better known as an actor -- also gets a fine performance out of Miss Moore, who is far sexier here than stripper Virginia Field. It's a movie worth watching for the performances.

7adrianovasconcelos

"Hamlet, take Shakespeare for a walk" - things improve sans booze

I had no idea actor Richard Carlson had also directed APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW - and a competent job he does, too! Mind you, he is not overly helped by Alec Coppell's and Norman Jolley's screenplay, which focuses for too long on the booziness of character Paul Baxter, fitfully played by George Nader (nadir more like!) as a newspaper reporter lushing up every drop of alcohol he can imbibe.

Thankfully, highly organized and stunningly beautiful girlfriend Joanna Moore (what does she see in Nader?!) manages to convince her cop brother Brian Keith to give Nader another chance and let him witness the capture of rotten criminal Dutch Hayden. Whether that would have been approved by police leadership even back in 1957 is highly debatable. Incidentally, Hayden is believably played by Frank deKova, who is rumored to have undergone cosmetic surgery, and might now look completely different. Still, that is the only extant photographic record of the wanted criminal, and all Nader can guide himself by when he spies from the rooftop with the Lawson whiskey advertisement.

In order to get that job-saving breaking news, Nader must follow a very specific time table drawn up by his meticulous sister, who demands that he scuttle the bottle for good.

Feeble Nader kinda promises her that he will try, but neither Moore nor Keith are convinced... and rightly so, for a while, with repeated shots of Lawson's whiskey (that must have paid for production) shining in neon to emphasize the point.

But!... when Nader begins to beat the libation habit by the hour, resulting in rising self-confidence, you can tell that he will meet Moore's demand.

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW is not particularly memorable, but not bad either - certainly worth watching and my 7 stars.

6blanche-2

George Nader as a washed up reporter with one helluva story

An alcoholic, out of work newspaper reporter is given another chance in "Appointment with a Shadow," from 1957, starring George Nader, Joanna Moore, Brian Keith, and Virginia Field.

Nader plays Paul Baxter, whose girlfriend Penny (Moore) is a reporter as well. After he is dropped off at her place by her brother, Lt. Spencer (Keith) and sobered up, she tells him she has the inside scoop on a story. It's his if he can stay sober for the entire day.

Penny's brother is a police detective and has agreed to allow Paul in on the arrest of a wanted criminal (Frank DeKova). He will then scoop all the crime reporters and get a newspaper job. Her brother thinks she's crazy and doesn't think she should bother with Paul, but she insists that she loves him and can't give up on him.

Paul manages to stay sober for the day. Penny calls him with the information about the stakeout and arrest. Unfortunately, once Paul gets to the scene, something goes terribly wrong. He's the only one who knows how wrong it went, and no one will believe him.

While the film deals realistically with an alcoholic's struggle to refrain from taking a drink, it doesn't really deal realistically with the illness. Still, it's an involving story, if a little too pat, directed by actor Richard Carlson.

George Nader was an attractive man who had a decent career in television and later did films in Europe. He never reached stardom in the U..S. because Universal outed him to Confidential magazine so the publication wouldn't out Rock Hudson. He was a good type for noir and detective stories - he played Ellery Queen on television as well as two other TV series.

searchanddestroy-1

Rare little gem from Universal Studios

It is a rare item that I review now, it was totally unavoidable in France and I finally purchased it thru some collectors nets. It is a good atmospheric thriller from the fifties, shot in black and white and in LBX, which adds to the fifties charm. The story itself is not that exciting though, predictable and George Nader - Unversal Studios home star - is as lame as usual. He should not have had the lead role, he deserved supporting roles instead. That said, it is a more than worth watching thriller, which I highly recommend for fifties movies lovers. It is a good film from Richard Carlson, the famous actor.

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Trama

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Lo sapevi?

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Quiz
Filming began with Jeffrey Hunter in the lead, but a serious case of hepatitis caused him to be replaced by George Nader after one day of shooting.

Citazioni
[In an apartment, a woman can be seen approaching a door when she hears the bell ringing. This is Penny Spencer. When she opens the door, she sees Police Lieutenant Spencer carrying a man, the latter is Paul Baxter]
Lt. Spencer: Do you mind if I say I'm glad this is the last time I'm gonna have to do this?
Penny Spencer: [starts walking towards another room] Bring him in here, Spence.
Lt. Spencer: [looks at the intoxicated Baxter] Come on...
[Penny and the Lieutenant enter a room where they lay Baxter on a bed. After positioning him, they take a closer look at him]
Lt. Spencer: Look at him. Paul Baxter and clean sheets they just don't add up. Do they, sis?
Penny Spencer: A shower and shave will help.
Lt. Spencer: It'll take a lot more than a shower and a shave to make anything add up for him again.
Penny Spencer: You just don't have any faith in him at all. Do you, Spence?
Lt. Spencer: Penny, I got more faith in these guys than most people have. In fact, I got so much faith in them I can predict exactly what'll happen when you clean them up and turn them loose. He'll go get drunk again.
Penny Spencer: Anybody deserves another chance.
Lt. Spencer: We got him another chance on every newspaper in town.
Penny Spencer: [turns towards the door] Well, he still needs help.
Lt. Spencer: Oh, come on, sis, why don't you just settle for being a good newspaper woman till the right guy comes along, huh?
Penny Spencer: He is the right guy.
Lt. Spencer: And the top reporter in town at twenty-five and he's an alcoholic bum before he's thirty. You call it right?
Penny Spencer: You made me a promise, Spence.
Lt. Spencer: I know, I know, I just don't want to see you through your life away, I want to see you happy, that's all.
Penny Spencer: Then keep your promise... I love him.
Lt. Spencer: Alright, you'll love him. You're my sister, I happen to love you. Believe me, that's the only reason I'm going through with this deal. I took me a long time to make Lieutenant you know, I could be back pounding a beat in thirty seconds if the department found out what I'm up to. So I think that gives me a right to make you promise.
[Penny remains silent]
Lt. Spencer: Look, if he goofs this one up, you see him for the last time. I mean it, Penny. I want you to promise me this is the end of the line.
Penny Spencer: [softly] It's the end of the line.
Lt. Spencer: [puts his hand on his sister's shoulder] Good night, sis.
[the Lieutenant leaves the apartment]