The Window (1949) User Reviews

Most Convincing Child Performance!

[jpdoherty · 8/10 · 4 May 2010]

"THE BOY CRIED ' WOLF' 'WOLF' SEVERAL TIMES AND EACH TIME THE PEOPLE

CAME TO HELP HIM THEY FOUND THERE WASN'T ANY 'WOLF' ".

Aesop's Fables

RKO certainly lived up to its reputation as the finest creators of Film Noir with this taut and suspenseful thriller made in 1947. Held back, for some reason, by Howard Hughes until a 1949 release THE WINDOW was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich that became a splendid screenplay by Mel Dinelli. Photographed in stunning crisp Monochrome by William Steiner it was directed with unrivaled regard to tension and impact by Ted Tetzlaff. With no marquee names to speak of and costing a modest sum to produce on the streets of New York's Lower East Side the picture was a great success with both critics and public alike.

The story of THE WINDOW concerns a 10 year boy Tommy Woodry (Bobby Driscoll) who just loves to spin yarns and tell tall tales. He lives in a modest apartment with his parents (Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale) in the lower East Side of New York city where his playground is the dilapidated tenements that surround him. One warm night he awakens and because of the heat takes his pillow out on to the fire escape to sleep. Here he witnesses a murder under the window shade of an adjoining apartment. But being the great story teller he is no one will believe him. No one, that is, except the killers themselves (Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman) who now must find a way to silence the boy. From here on the film never lets up. It becomes a white knuckle ride as Tommy tries to escape the killers clutches down alley ways and across the dodgy rooftops of dangerous tenements. The picture ends with one of the killers falling to his death and Tommy being reunited with his parents who finally believe him. Now he makes a solemn promise never to cry 'Wolf' again.

Adding greatly to the thrills is the marvellous music score by RKO's Noir composer in residence Roy Webb. With a terrific main theme, heard in its broadest form under the titles, there is also some splendid eerie music for the stalking scenes and exciting action cues for the chase sequences.

But there is little doubt that the film is held tightly together and dominated by the outstanding central performance from the ill-fated 10 year old Bobby Driscoll. You simply cannot take your eyes off him. An amazing little actor, it is a great shame he never got to have a full career in film. But it was never to be! Fate had other plans for him. He was to be plagued with bad luck for the rest of his days. First he suffered with severe acne in his teens which halted his film career. Then he was arrested and sent to jail on drugs charges. When he was released his reputation proceeded him and he was unemployable in Hollywood. Later he made a couple of stabs at supporting roles in films of no repute. But he never regained even the slightest spark of his childhood genius. With his career virtually over he became a drug abuser again. In 1968 - and ironically in the same setting as his greatest success in the film THE WINDOW - two children playing found his dead body in a derelict tenement in New York's Lower East Side. He was only 31 years old. It is quite inconceivable that for someone who had demonstrated such a mighty talent should finish up unknown, unclaimed and sadly come to be buried in a pauper's grave on Hart Island.

Crying Wolf has never been so deadly...or as entertaining!!

[wingspancd · 8/10 · 27 November 2005]

While this film noir is listed as unavailable on DVD, I took a chance and purchased a "collector's" DVD copy on ebay, something I didn't condone until I realized that some of these old films will never be released and only exist as public domain property in 16mm prints. That being said, I watched "The Window" on an unlabeled DVD-R copy and was very impressed with the quality of both the audio and video. I've purchased other "legit" releases only to find the packaging far superior in quality to the program. "The Window" features a very plausible plot set in a run down urban neighborhood full of tenements and condemned buildings. A nine-year old boy with a vivid imagination and a reputation for telling tall tales, witnesses a murder by his upstairs neighbors while sleeping on the fire escape one sweltering summer night. After going to his dismissing parents, then to the police without their consent, he is sent on his way into a nightmarish experience. The suspenseful sequences are masterfully paced, and there really isn't a slow moment in the film. I would definitely buy this film if, one day, it's released in commercial packaging. Tense, taut and brilliantly done on the obviously low budget.

Like a time machine to New York of the 1940s

[dleifker · 8/10 · 20 February 2013]

Part of the appeal of the film noir genre has always been its ability to freeze everyday life from the past and redisplay it faithfully to viewers many decades later. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy the genre so much, and "The Window" does its job better that most. If you want to step into a time machine and see what real life was like in New York City in the 1940s, this is the movie to see. I saw it at a local film noir film festival, and I hope it comes out on DVD.

It's a bit jarring to see Della Street as a gritty Manhattan housewife with a coarse blue-collar husband, but it's also a lot of fun and she looks terrific. Barbara Hale is still alive as I write this, amazingly, and will turn 91 in a few weeks. At the film festival, this film was introduced by someone who had telephoned Barbara Hale and asked her for her memories of making this movie. She said the movie was supposed to take place in the summer, so the actors dressed very lightly, but it was really filmed in a much colder time of year and she remembers freezing as they shot scene after scene. Could have fooled me, the movie comes across as summery and hot with lots of sweat.

Every detail fascinated me, especially of apartment life in the 1940s: tiny rooms, closet-sized bathrooms with dwarf sinks, and kitchens that looked like airplane galleys. Dark and sinister stairwells up to dingy apartments, fire escapes and alleys, cigarettes galore, and black telephones like my grandmother used to have. Every scene is richly textured, almost as if the director knew that audiences of the distant future would be watching his movie and be mesmerized by the detailed scenery, from the local police station to the pay phone at the corner drugstore.

Others have reviewed the plot and I have nothing much to add. But I will emphasize that the plot develops along paths that I would never have predicted, and the ending will rivet you to your seat. The conclusion was deeply satisfying and caused the audience to burst into whistles and applause. Hope this movie comes out on DVD quick... it's a treasure.

Neo-Realism Meets Noir

[dougdoepke · 16 September 2009]

A little boy learns the value of truth-telling in white-knuckle, claustrophobic fashion— a memorably done movie in all departments. No need to dwell here on the consensus strong points.

Seeing this taut little thriller in a small western town when I was 10 not only scared the heck out of me, but influenced my perception of urban life for years to come. Seeing the film again 60 years later, I'm impressed with producer Dore Schary's insistence on the grimness of the tenements, at least by later suburban standards. There's no attempt to glamorize or even varnish the family's dingy, cramped flat. Whether on NY location or on an RKO sound stage, the lighting remains dark and oppressive. Of course, that not only heightens the noirish atmosphere, but also lends an uncommon degree of realism to the family's working- class environment. After all, Dad works the nightshift, while Mom helps with the extended family, leaving little Tommy home alone. And that, I believe, amounts to more than just a handy plot device. And get a load of the on-location ruins where the kids play at the beginning—looks like something out of post-war Europe. No wonder MGM went after Schary in an effort to become more socially relevant in post-Andy Hardy America. There may be a lot of Hollywood in the melodrama itself, but the look and feel is definitely not Hollywood of the time. What a fine little film that's still edge-of-the-seat excitement. And, if I recall correctly, I was an especially good little boy for a long time afterward.

Neglected noir...

[poe426 · 10/10 · 25 August 2002]

First saw this nail-biter when I was a kid. It still holds up. Based on a Cornell Woolrich story (as was REAR WINDOW), this one boasts some of the most stunning cinematography I've ever seen. Director Tetzlaff, himself a cinematographer of considerable skill (he shot Alfred Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS), milks this one for all it's worth. Bobby Driscoll (the kid underground comix artist Robert Crumb reveals his brother fell in love with in the documentary CRUMB) never once wavers under the camera's close scrutiny: his must be one of the greatest performances EVER by a kid in a feature film. In fact, it's his performance that carries the film. Paul Stewart is as creepy as they come; his performance, as good as it is, perfectly compliments the low-key desperation of young Driscoll. Absolutely must-see moviemaking.

The Boy Who Cried "Murder!"

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 20 July 2006]

The story of the fall of the career of Bobby Driscoll sort of puts a downer effect on all of his films. In the late 1940s and early 1950s Driscoll had a remarkably effective movie career, including the starring role in this classic film noir and roles in TREASURE ISLAND and LONG JOHN SILVER with Robert Newton, and the voice of PETER PAN in the Disney cartoon. His drug addiction and lonely death were a tragic waste of a talented actor.

THE WINDOW is one of those unexpected classic films that were made without vast publicity campaigns or expense, with a simple and good cast involved, and a good script. It also has a classic pedigree, going back to the fables of Aesop. It is a variant on the story of the boy that cried wolf.

Driscoll plays a lively little boy with a vivid imagination. His parents (Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale) are living in a lower class - working class district in a city. Kennedy has a job that takes him out of the house at night. In fact, this is a film that clings to the night.

Driscoll happens to tell a whopper of a lie, and it blows up in his face because it embarrasses his parents. So his reputation for telling the truth has been compromised. While sleeping on the fire estate of his home at night, he faces the apartment of Paul Stewart and his wife Ruth Roman. Stewart has a business associate over at his apartment, gets into a quarrel, and kills the associate. Unfortunately, Driscoll sees this - but equally unfortunate Stewart sees that Driscoll witnessed it.

So follows a long, involved cat and mouse game, with Stewart covering up traces of the murder (with Roman's assistance), and at the same time doing everything he can to dismiss Driscoll's claims of the murder as just his silly over-imagination again. As Kennedy and Hale are half-inclined to believe this, they too refuse to listen to Driscoll's arguments. But Stewart is also aware that at some point, somebody might just decide to double check Driscoll's stories, especially if he remains so insistent that he is not lying. So Stewart has to find the right moment to grab this annoying kid, and get rid of the only witness.

There are problems though. Driscoll's youth also means he is more energetic and physically adept than Stewart. Also, although Roman is helping her husband she is not really keen about killing a little boy. Finally there is also the fact that, although they strongly doubt Driscoll's story, Kennedy and Hale love their son, and think he's a troubled little boy. Soon Kennedy's actions are gumming up Stewart's planning as well.

Besides Driscoll's performance, Stewart gave one of his best villains in the film, being plausible on the surface, but as deadly in intentions as they come. Kennedy's father is a hard working man, struggling for a better life for his family, and tired of his son's tall tales. But at the right moment he does start wondering if he's been just too complacent about his son's "lying".

The conclusion is a tense and exciting fight between Stewart and Driscoll in a deserted building. It is a first rate conclusion to this fascinating and scary film which makes us wonder how seriously do we ever take our kids, and in what ways do we show it.

Children's Noir

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 29 March 2017]

Many know the sad tale of the life of Bobby Driscoll who was Walt Disney's first live action child star paving the way for dozens more right down to today's Disney Channel. As Disney at the time The Window was made released their product through RKO Studios, RKO apparently had call on Driscoll's services and they got him to star in this sleeper of a noir film which I call children's noir.

Bobby is the son of Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale and he's got a big imagination forever telling tall tales. That's the problem, when he sees a real murder take place in an upstairs neighbor's apartment no one will believe him, not the cops, especially not his parents.

But murder was done in that apartment as drunk and free spending sailor Richard Benedict was done in by Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman. The body was disposed of in a condemned building next door.

In Disney products we've seen all kinds of kids put in harm's way of many a villain. But because it is a Disney film we all know nothing will happen. Not so here. Driscoll is in the mean streets of a big city and a really bad man is chasing him. You feel his fear.

The Window got an Oscar nomination in the film editing. Almost 70 years later it's still a thrilling film to watch and the cross cut editing has a lot to do with it. Don't miss this one if broadcast.

Ultraviolence. 1940's style.

[NuKu-NuKu · 8/10 · 28 October 2002]

Late-night tv sometimes throws up some high quality gems. The Window is one of them. And before you go saying ''aww! but this movie is old and in b&w, i bet it's awful!" STOP. Take a step back. This movie is excellent.

9 year old Tommy Woodry (Bobby Driscoll) is a lying little git. Always telling lies and making up stories. It's gotten to the point where no-one believes a word he says anymore, not even his own parents.

Tommy's world is about to come crashing down around him after he is witness to a murder in the apartment above his one night. The problem is, Tommy knows the truth, no-one believe's him and to make matters worse the Kellerton family upstairs (the murderer's) find out that Tommy knows what happened and want him silenced.

I swear to god, this movie was so harsh. Harsh in the sense that for a movie thats well over 50 years old now - taken in it's original form without modern day conception - this is one violent movie. One guy gets beaten to near death then is finished off getting stabbed to death with a pair of scissors in front of a kid. The Kellerton's kidnap Tommy and in one scene Joe Kellerton (Paul Stewart) punches the little boy in the face about three times then drugs him with chlorophyl!! Another point to add, this movie is actually banned in Finland! This movie must have genuinely shocked it's original audience when it was first shown back in 1949.

This is a dark movie; very eerie and some scenes mount incredible depths of tension. The acting is superb and the camerawork doubly so.

If your a true movie fan and are happy to watch any movie no matter the age, you'll love this. It's a real treat and i'm glad i caught this one on tv. Special mention goes out to fellow IMDB user Bob The Moo, who supplied me with a VHS edition! Now to track down the DVD...

Murder! He Said, but nobody believed him!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 22 April 2014]

The tenements of New York City come to life in this tense film noir where the protagonist is an adolescent who starts off as the antagonist. Pre-teen Bobby Driscoll makes up stories with the frequency of a gossip columnist, usually involving his innocent neighbors. This gets his parents (Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy) in trouble, and they wonder how to handle his tall tales. It goes from bad to worse on a hot summer night when Driscoll climbs up to the top of the fire escape where he witnesses the married couple on the top floor having an argument with the stranger, and the husband stabbing the man to death. Stunned by viewing this, Driscoll rushes to tell his parents who of course do not believe him. After running to the police to tell him of what he witnessed, Driscoll is forced by his mother to apologize to the killer's wife and he becomes paranoid that the neighbors will target him next. When he is left alone by his working father while his mother is tending a sick relative, Driscoll's worst nightmare comes true when real danger shows its ugly face.

The dark set of the slums take on a look of character (and almost becomes a character itself) as Driscoll tries to save himself, and the photographer and editor work overtime to create a tension that is often frightening and seldom surpassed by other similarly filmed stories. Children rarely get the focus in such a tale, and of course, the psychological ramifications of why he lies in the first place is dealt with, and how his parent's daily distractions make him feel neglected. This is a "sleeper" of film noir greatness, an extremely short motion picture that shows good things come in small packages and that frequently, less is often more.

No-one Believes A Liar

[seymourblack-1 · 8/10 · 16 October 2016]

The moral of Aesop's fable about the boy who cried "wolf" is that no-one believes liars and this is exactly what happens in "The Window" which was based on Cornell Woolrich's short story "The Boy Who Cried Murder". Murder, kidnap and the plight of a child who finds himself in mortal danger are all strong elements of this tense and realistic tale which illustrates very powerfully that, in movie-making, a low budget doesn't necessarily mean a low quality end-product.

Nine-year-old Tommy Woodry (Bobby Driscoll) lives with his parents in a tenement building in New York City's Lower East Side and his habit of telling tall stories drives them to despair because nothing they can do or say seems to make any difference in terms of getting him to change his behaviour. On one occasion, after Tommy had told his friends that his family were moving to Texas, their landlord had called by to show prospective tenants around and Tommy's frustrated father Ed (Arthur Kennedy) had been left to explain that there wasn't any truth in what the landlord had heard.

One hot summer night, when Tommy finds it impossible to get to sleep, his mother Mary (Barbara Hale) gives him permission to sleep out on the fire escape and so, after taking his pillow up to the next level above his bedroom window, he settles down to rest. A little later, he wakes up and through the window adjacent to where he'd slept, sees his upstairs neighbours stealing money from the pocket of a drunken seaman and then stabbing him to death with a pair of scissors. When he tells his mother what he'd seen, she doesn't believe him and suggests that he'd had a nightmare. When Tommy plucks up courage to report the matter to the police, they too treat what he says with great scepticism.

When Tommy's mother becomes aware that he'd reported the matter to the police, she's so incensed that she compels him to apologise to their neighbours for the terrible things he'd said about them and it's only then that they realize that there was a witness to their crime and Tommy becomes terrified because he knows he's in grave danger. From that point on, Joe (Paul Stewart) and Jean (Ruth Roman) Kellerson, pursue Tommy relentlessly with a view to permanently eliminating the threat that he poses to their futures.

It's interesting to see, in this movie, how differently children were treated in the late-1940s because, although Tommy had kind parents, they were relaxed about the dangerous locations he played in, considered it quite acceptable to leave him on his own in their apartment overnight and also had no qualms about locking him up in his room. The police also disbelieve him twice and on the occasion when he seeks help from a street cop because he's trapped in the back of a taxi with the Kellersons, the officer tells him "a good lickin' never hurt anybody boy, my old man used to give me enough of them when I was a kid". Similarly, it's surprising to see that, during the same period , it was not considered particularly shocking to show a man (with his wife's complicity) casually knocking a child unconscious, simply because he was being a bit difficult.

"The Window" (which provided Cornell Woolrich with the inspiration for "Rear Window") is well written and ends with an exciting, dangerous and very well-directed chase through an abandoned building. The cinematography is also very effective in emphasising the claustrophobic nature of many of the locations and the acting is excellent throughout. Arthur Kennedy's portrayal of Tommy's father is remarkably subtle and strong and Bobby Driscoll (in a role for which he received a special Oscar) is simply amazing because he's just so natural, expressive and believable. It's no exaggeration to say that his must be one of the greatest-ever screen performances by any child actor.

small, tense thriller from RKO

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 27 February 2013]

Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy Ruth Roman, Bobby Driscoll and Paul Stewart star in "The Window," a 1949 film.

In a takeoff of the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Tommy Woodry is an only child with a very active imagination. He is known among his friends and parents as being a teller of tall tales. One night, it's so hot in their New York apartment that Tommy goes onto the fire escape to sleep. There, looking in the next apartment, he witnesses a murder. The problem is, no one believes him. Except the killers.

Good nail-biter with lots of references to corporal punishment for kids, which was common back then. It's plenty of violence, too, as well as a dramatic ending.

Arthur Kennedy was one of the most underrated actors in show business - though this is a good film, it's a small one, and he deserved something with a higher profile. Barbara Hale, just a few years later would achieve TV immortality as Della Street, Perry Mason's secretary. At 27, Ruth Roman makes an impression as Mrs. Kellerton, who was involved in the killing. She's both beautiful and frightened.

The actor who plays the little boy, Bobby Driscoll was very good and continued to work until around 1960, when drugs and a criminal record kept him from getting work. He died at 31 of heart problems, penniless and homeless.

Good movie, worth seeing.

Like the boy who cried wolf.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 11 May 2015]

A belter of a B noir out of RKO. Story plays as a variant to the boy who cried wolf legend and finds young Bobby Driscoll as Tommy, a boy prone to telling tall tales. So when one night he spies upstairs neighbours murdering a man, nobody believes him...

The build up to the crime is considered, we are privy to Tommy's home life in a cramped New York tenement, his parents loyal and hard working and they have plenty of love for their fanciful son.

Once the crime is committed, a shocking incident compounded by the fact it's perpetrated by a normal looking male and female couple, a destitute pairing prepared to do the unthinkable just for cash, then things get real tense and the thrills begin to roll.

Tommy is now under threat from the killers and he needs to be silenced, so as the cramp confines of the hot and sweaty tenement area are vividly brought to life via noir visuals, Ted Tetzlaff (director) and his cinematographers (Robert De Grasse & William O. Steiner) excelling, the paranoia and tension builds to the point that the gripping finale acts as a merciful release.

Very well performed by a cast that also includes Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Arthur Kennedy and Barabara Hale, this late 1940s noir is highly recommended. 8/10

Irresponsible parents in the '40's, even though unintentionally so.

[Somesweetkid · 7/10 · 24 April 2022]

Come on now. Even in the 1940's, did a pre-teen's father and mother truly think it was responsible and SAFE to nail a child's bedroom window shut, lock him in the room and then leave overnight (to go to work and to help a sick relative respectfully?) Ridiculous and totally unrealistic. I couldn't give this a higher review because that plot point was too difficult to overcome. However, the movie did have suspenseful and frightening moments from the child's perspective. Talented Disney star Bobby Driscoll gave a realistic and convincing portrayal of the child in peril, and Hale and Kennedy represented the well-meaning (but ultimately neglectful) parents.

A more dramatic version of Dennis the Menace

[Ed-Shullivan · 5/10 · 15 December 2018]

As far as a film-noir story line this film fails to deliver. The young child actor Bobby Driscoll is a natural to play the young Tommy Woodry with the wild imagination. Until one day Tommy witnesses two adults that live above his apartment floor commit a murder. To no one's surprise Tommy's parents are the first to chalk Tommy's story of a murder upstairs to just that, only another of Tommy's wild imagination story telling.

The film lacked any real suspense and the bad guys reaction and their eventual fate was predictable. Boy versus crooks? Does the boy win or do the crooks keep their secret? By the end of the film I was bored so it did not even matter who won. To find out you will have to suffer through it just like I did.

Hurrah for actor Bobby Driscoll who was excellent as the young sleuth and rat. Too bad the story line was weak and ineffectve.

I give the film a 5 out of 10 rating.

Claustrophobic thriller

[JulieKelleher57 · 1 March 2000]

The claustrophobic cinematography makes this film. You feel cramped and trapped as does our young hero. The tenements are lit just enough for you to imaging all sorts of horrors within. The ending was evidently rushed and a bit hokey; the director et al. could have fleshed it out a bit more

This is a very real film, in that we all know children who 'fabricate' as easily as they breath. Bobby Driscoll was superb. I've never seen his Disney work -- now I'll keep my eye out for his name.

I loved seeing a younger Arthur Kennedy (before he played only drunks) and a plain but always pretty Barbara Hale (pre-Perry Mason). Both were excellent and demonstrated a range I never gave them credit for.

A Thrill a Minute! Film Noir at its' BEST!

[l.boots · 10/10 · 9 March 2000]

I first saw this film when I was ten. The same age as the terrified young star "Tommy" of the film. I sat on the edge of my seat, glued to the screen as every second of suspense ticked away. A masterpiece to rival even the best of the great Hitchcock Thrillers! I have never seen it released on video, but would be the first to run out and buy it. If it turns up on AMC, DON'T MISS IT!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 23 December 2016]

Tommy Woodry is a young boy living in a poor tenement in NYC. He often makes up stories. His parents are frustrated with him. On one hot night, he goes out to sleep on the fire escape. While outside the upstairs apartment, he witnesses the Kellersons stabbing a man in the back with a pair of scissors. He tries to tell his parents but they don't believe him. He tells a police detective but he finds nothing. Tommy is forced to apologize by his mother to Mrs. Kellerson which only informs them of him as a witness.

There is always great tension of a kid who nobody believes. This one takes the 'The Boy who Cried Wolf' fable and turns it into a tense noir. The little boy is pretty good in terms of a child actor. There are a couple of less believable things like the taxi driver. There must have been an impenetrable partition in that cab. Despite the little flaws, this is a solid thriller.

Seattle International Film Festival - David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com

[rdjeffers · 7/10 · 11 June 2006]

Sunday June 11, 4:00pm The Egyptian

'The Window', written by Noir master Cornell Woolrich, takes place in the sweltering heat of a New York summer. When Tommy Woodry (Bobby Driscoll) witnesses the brutal murder of a man by his upstairs neighbors as he tries to sleep on their fire escape, no one will believe him. Tommy has a long history of telling tall tales. " Stories? What kind of stories?" His parents Mary (Barbara Hale) and Ed (Arthur Kennedy) punish him for lying but he runs away to tell the police who also discount his story. When his murderous neighbors get wind, things take a frightening turn. Sensational camera work by Robert De Grasse makes brilliant use of the dark, forbidding stairwells and unseen corners of the apartment building and nearby derelicts to create a delightfully sinister mood. One scene in which Tommy's mother forces him to apologize to the killers for lying is particularly frightening.

A very good thriller.

[k-thomas · 8/10 · 18 December 2005]

I watched this film for the first time on BBC at 2 this morning and was very impressed. Some very fine acting by all the cast and and a good believable, terrifying story. Hollywood should have a good look at these old RKO movies and see how superior they are to the rubbish that is being dished out today. Bobby Driscol played an excellent role as the young boy and it was nice to see Arther Kennedy play a good guy. The black and white photography added to the suspense. Of course in latter years, there have been similar stories filmed, for example, Eye Witness with Mark Lester and Susan George and Witness with Harrison Ford. All very good in their own right. A must for fans of a good old fashioned thriller. Kevin Thomas.

A near-miss, aided by young Driscoll's work...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 24 May 2009]

On loan from Walt Disney, Bobby Driscoll, a child actor par excellence, lends a good deal of believability to this familiar and predictable plot concerning an imaginative youngster who can't get anyone to believe his story about being the sole witness to a murder. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in modern dress (from a story by Cornell Woolrich!) needed a stronger, perhaps multi-layered approach; it's too straightforward and square, and the audience is always two steps ahead of the action. The adult characters are exasperating and foolish, though Driscoll's grounded presence is just what this scenario requires (he deservedly received a non-competitive Juvenile Oscar for his work). Vivid black-and-white cinematography by Robert De Grasse and William Steiner also deserves praise--though the film isn't a noir: it's a family picture on a tight budget, aimed at the mass market. Overall results decent, but not superior. One Oscar nomination: Best Editing. One BAFTA nomination: Best Film From any Source. Screenwriter Mel Dinelli was a WGA nominee for Best Written American Drama. **1/2 from ****

Top flight film noir

[sapblatt · 8/10 · 4 January 2004]

While 1949s "The Window" may not be a noir classic many have heard about I strongly recommend seeing it if you can find it. (It is occasionally on TCM, but it is not currently available on DVD or VHS.)

The film stars child protege Bobby Driscoll ("Song's of the South" "Peter Pan") as a young boy who is living the Aesopian nightmare of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." His parents are portrayed the ever capable Arthur Kennedy ("Champion" "High Sierra") and Barbara Hale ("Perry Mason.") After the boy witnesses a murder his parents and the foolish police department refuse to beleive him until it is almost too late.

The murderers are also well-played by veterans Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman (who also were in 1949s "Champion" with Arthur Kennedy and Kirk Douglas.) The husband and wife would have gotten away with murder if at not been for the young boy, . The ensuing chase and scary finale are very well done. The police in this movie were so ignorant you would wonder if they did not inspire the moron cop, Officer Barbrady on "South Park."

This fine film was actually considered to be a throwaway "B" movie. It turned out to be quite popular even though it only runs for 73 minutes. The young actor, Bobby Driscoll received a special Oscar for his work in 1949 but soon found his acting career drying up as he aged and his life ended tragically from drug related issues in 1968 at the age of 31.

Modern update of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" suffers from some plot contrivance

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 6 March 2021]

The Window is an unusual film noir in that the main character is a child. Bobby Driscoll plays Tommy Woodry, a nine year old who lives in an old NYC tenement with his parents Mary (Barbara Hale) and Ed (Arthur Kennedy). The film was a box office success much to the surprise of Howard Hughes, who had recently taken over RKO and initially decided not to greenlight the picture's release.

The film's premise is a modern update of "The Boy who cried Wolf," one of the tales from Aesop's Fables. Tommy has a reputation for making up tall tales among his peers as well as the adult neighbors in the building. His parents are at the breaking point in getting him to behave and at one point the father nails Tommy's bedroom door shut so he will remain there for the night.

During one scorching hot night when Tommy decides to sleep outside on the fire escape one story above his bedroom, he witnesses a murder committed by two of his neighbors, The Kellersons (Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman). He tells his parents but of course they don't believe him. Tommy even goes so far as to walk over the local police precinct where he reports the incident and a detective escorts Tommy back to his mother, who promptly informs the officer of Tommy's unfortunate penchant for not telling the truth.

In a bit of a twist, the detective still decides to check on the Kellersons by posing as a building repair estimator and is able to look for clues while the Kellersons remain in their apartment, bent on not arousing any suspicion. After not finding anything, the detective returns to the precinct house and dismisses Tommy's claims as a kid believing that one of his nightmares was true.

The problem with The Window is that we must suspend our disbelief regarding the killers' behavior throughout. Firstly, we never find out why the Kellersons commit the murder. Second, they inexplicably dump the body next door in an abandoned, decaying building. Why they would do that seems not only implausible but a clear plot contrivance. The body could have easily been found and possibly identified and their association with the murdered man could have easily been established.

But even if no association could have been made with the perpetrators, the discovery of a dead body would have suddenly alerted the police that there might have been validity to Tommy's claims. And even his parents might have started believing in what Tommy had been telling them.

Of course the killers dumped the body before they became aware that Tommy might have been a witness. But once they do get an inkling that Tommy might have seen them (and this occurs initially when Mrs. Woodry takes Tommy upstairs to "apologize" to the Kellersons-and later confirmed for sure when Joe Kellerson finds Tommy's note in the kitchen of the Woodry apartment), it is highly unlikely that Joe would have even considered eliminating Tommy, given the fact that the dead body could have turned up anytime and cast suspicion on the couple.

Even without the discovery of the body, little Tommy's demise would have caused a lot of problems for the Kellersons, even if it appeared accidental. So I had trouble for most of the second half, imagining that Joe would actually even consider let alone go through with trying to kill Tommy.

Nonetheless, the final scene in which the Kellersons chase Tommy through the decaying building next door is pretty exciting. Of course Joe gets his just comeuppance by falling to his death when a rotting staircase gives way; and Tommy is saved when the police have him jump into a net, just before the tottering beam he's standing on, gives way.

Driscoll steals the show as the tall-tale teller. Sadly, the child actor turned to drugs as an adult and was found dead in a crumbling building in NYC, not unlike the one depicted in The Window in the climactic scene.

The Window is worth watching but doesn't approach classic noir status due to the implausibility of part of the narrative's basic premise.

Driscoll Delivers

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 23 December 2005]

Bobby Driscoll is not a name familiar to most people, unless they are die-hard classic movie fans. Driscoll's career was short, but that wasn't because he couldn't act. This movie shows his talents as a young boy who cries wolf and then pays for it, big-time.

The first 40 minutes of this film deals with that "wolf" angle. It goes a bit too long and begins to drag the story down a bit, but stay with it. Once the killers come looking for the boy (Driscoll), the film suddenly becomes extremely tense. In fact, the tension is so strong the last 30 minutes that there are scenes you almost can't bear to watch.

Story-wise, there are some credibility questions, mainly "Why would good parents - as portrayed here by Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy - leave their 10-year-old all alone all night?" But, ignoring that, the film is entertaining and has a good ending, so I have no complaints.

Driscoll does a fine job of acting, as mentioned, and Hale became famous for being Perry Mason's secretary on television. Kennedy is always interesting no matter what film he is in, and Paul Stewart is effective as the villain.

As of this writing, the VHS tape is out-of-print, and there is no DVD available yet, sad to say. Hopefully, that oversight will be corrected soon. This film is a valuable part of anyone's film noir collection.

This is a disturbing film but not for the reasons we expect.

[camdentownie13 · 6/10 · 18 December 2005]

Yes, it's a film noir about a boy witnessing a murder but the scariest part of this movie is how it stands up as a sign of the times in 1949 and how children were treated. The parents have no qualms about leaving their nine-year-old all night, the murderous neighbour actually punches the kid unconscious at one point, and the cop actually advocates giving him a beating.

Contrast it with modern children-in-peril movies like Home Alone and you'll see, though it's not a great movie, it's a real historical marker. It is helped by the fact that the doomed child actor Bobby Driscoll is such a great little actor.

I think it's worth a watch. It's a thriller but not for the reasons it was originally made.

Predictable but Worth the Time Spent

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 7 December 2020]

"Tommy Woodry" (Bobby Driscoll) is a young kid who has a penchant for making up incredible stories which people sometimes believe. His parents, "Ed Woodry" (Arthur Kennedy) and "Mary Woodry" (Barbara Hale) have long since gotten accustomed to his tall tales and have become quite irritated with him for spreading them. So when he comes to them and tells them that their neighbors "Joe Kellerson" (Paul Stewart) and "Jean Kellerson" (Ruth Roman) who live in the apartment upstairs have just murdered a man they send him to his room without supper. What neither of them realizes is that what Tommy is telling them is true and when the upstairs neighbors hear that Tommy may have seen something they become extremely intent on finding out every detail. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a nice little drama which managed to keep my attention throughout. Admittedly, the plot was rather predictable but it was worth the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.