A 1955 crime noir which involves a trio of hitchhikers taking a family hostage. Based on a true story, we find the father, an engineer by trade whose father owns a chain of businesses, being picked up by a trio of thugs who take him back to his home to keep the family (mother & their 2 children) hostage till morning (he ends up selling his car to get them off his back & needs to wait for the cash) but when it's revealed who his father is, they opt for a large payday. The next morning the kidnappers take the father as a means for his wife to not call the police (through a fluke of circumstance she nearly gets caught because the kidnappers have a cop radio) but once the authorities realize the stakes involved, an intense manhunt commences (primarily trying to track their calls down using methods we would recognize as archaic) but keeps the suspense on an ever increasing vise grip. Future notables John Cassavetes & Vince Edwards play a couple of the kidnappers & Jack Kruschen (from The Apartment) played one of the detectives.
Review of The Night Holds Terror
