mark.waltz Review of The Night Holds Terror

The Night Holds Terror (1955)

Thrilling re-tread of "The Desperate Hours"

[7/10 · 28 March 2010]

When husband and father Jack Kelly is on the road, he is stopped by a supposed stranded motorist (John Cassavettes) who instantly places a gun to Kelly's head and plans to leave him dead in the desert to take his car. Desperate to save his life for the sake of his family, Kelly promises to get him cash, and Cassavettes and his co-horts (Vince Edwards and David Cross) take over their home. This is a taunt and tense film noir that grasps you from the very beginning and doesn't let go. What seems to be heading down a familiar street turns out to be intriguing once the pace gets moving. Kelly and his wife (Hildy Parks) are appropriately frightened, while there are multi-dimensional portraits given to each of the thugs. There are vulnerabilities and humanities in some of them that you don't see in most gangster thrillers, so obviously the script writer took great pains to add more detail to their characterizations. There are also some wonderful twists and turns that get the viewer convinced that the villains are about to get their dues when something else happens to take it down a different path. This makes it more exciting and as more of the law becomes involved, so does the media, which makes the tension even worse. While not yet released in Columbia's film noir collection, this is definitely one that should be. It is one of their better later film noirs.