Movie revew - "Fourteen Hours" (1951) ***

This starts off fantastically -Richard Basehart (very good)  walks out on the ledge of a building, sending everyone into a tizz. Passing cop Paul Douglas tries to talk him down while he gets visits from shrinks, another cop, the guy's parents.

But the thing is the movie doesn't really have anywhere to go. The movie is about finding out The Reason Why He's On the Ledge - and because it's the early 50s you can guess it'll be because his parents were to blame, and because it's 20th Century Fox you can guess the parent was a woman (Zanuck's films had this misogynistic streak), and when Agnes Moorehead turns up as mom it's like "there we go"... the macguffin is the fact Moorehead wrong raised Basehart to hate his father (Robert Keith).

I get divorce does terrible things to children but my sympathy with Basehart did ebb over time. Maybe it's to do with the fact that Basehart, who is excellent, was 36 when he made the film and he looks it. It's sort of made me go "alright already" when better casting might have been a young nervy actor, like James Dean (or equivalent).

Also the subplots aren't that memorable. Grace Kelly gets one as a woman on her way to divorce husband James Warren. Kelly doesn't look as though she's a star here - she's actor-y and pretty enough, there's no magic. She is far too good looking for Warren and their story is dull - she's distracted in a lawyer's office then they decide to give it another try. (This film would be loved by Catholics - it's all about preventing suicide and the evils of divorce).

The other one involves Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget, office workers who meet, and Hunter uses it as an excuse to flirt with Paget. This is treated seriously.

Apparently Howard Hawks was offered this and wanted to do it as a comedy, so they went with Henry Hathaway. Hathaway's direction is excellent - brisk, fast moving, lots of cuts, skilful use of location footage. But I think it would have worked better as  a comedy. Around the edges you see glimpses of a more interesting film - an evangelist who approaches the man, Moorehead playing up for the cameras, people waiting impatiently to jump. I feel it need a more cynical, satirical edge - maybe not go as hard core as Ace in the Hole but along those lines. Or at least a few more subplots - two wasn't enough - or at least some more twists in the two that are there. As it is Hunter just asks out Paget the end, and Kelly and her husband decide to get back together the end.

Douglas is very good, as is Howard da Silva as a fellow cop. Martin Gabel is perhaps creepier than he was intended to be as a shrink.