Directed by:
Robert Wise
Starring:
Richard Basehart ………. Alan Spender
Valentina Cortese ………. Victoria Kowelska
William Lundigan ………. Major Marc Bennett
Fay Baker ………. Margaret
Gordon Gebert ………. Chris
20th Century Fox presents House on Telegraph Hill. Written by Elick Moll & Frank Partos based on the novel “The Frightened Child” by Dana Lyon. Running time: 93 minutes. NOT RATED. Available on DVD: March 7, 2006.
Movies that are meant to be vehicles for actors in the old days were nothing new, studio executives trying to find that next big start and put them center stage in a production they imagined would shoot the young actor or actress to super stardom. Still to this day it’s done but back then things were different, back then they signed stars to long contracts with the studios so if one of the rising talents broke big they had them at their disposal to help boost box office revenues for the studio. Such is the case with House on Telegraph Hill, designed specifically with Valentina Cortese in mind for the lead role to make her the next big Hollywood sensation.
Taken from her home and family in Poland Victoria Kowelska was placed in a Nazi concentration camp only to befriend Karin another inmate at the camp whom both gave each other the comfort and strength to survive. Her home and entire life was taken that day, as she states in the film “Poland does not exist any more for me”, but Karin promises her that when they’re freed both of them will go with Karin to America to live with her rich Aunt Sophia. But before their day of freedom comes Karin dies, now with no home from her past to fall back on Victoria makes the decision to use Karins identity as a way to get to the states and possibly find a home with Karin’s family.
Shortly before she leaves the camp for resettlement she’s sent a letter over the wire that Karin’s Aunt Sophie has passed. Now with no one left in the states to identify her as an imposter she’s now able to once and for all take over Karin’s life but it’s not that simple, this is film noir we’re talking about so of course there’s a twist. Alan who was named legal guardian of Chris, Karin’s son and the controller of the large inheritance from Aunt Sophie enters the picture to sweep Victoria off of her feet. With so much money involved it’s only a matter of time until “accidents” begin to happen which could all just as easily be constructed in the mind of Victoria. Who’s identity crisis may be leading her to a mental breakdown that’s making her believe Alan is behind it all.
But none of that is as relevant as you would imagine, the moment she steps foot in to the states she just accepts her new found life of luxury leaving her trauma from the camp in the past. Not once in the film does she pause to reflect on them or ponder about her moral judgment to take over the life of a woman who died and pretend to be the mother of a child she doesn’t even know. Instead she’s focused on the mystery at hand, and even then we’re not entirely sure what that exactly is, first she is adamant to crack open and look through a locked scrap book, then she looks for who cut her break lines and it just keeps going like that, she just moves from one event to the next.
Director Robert Wise was very adamant at first about how he didn’t want to work on the project and felt is was too “been there done that” as far as the story went. And he was 100% right, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from watching the film from a visual standpoint. Perhaps it was the decadent and elaborate sets created by the art department to represent the house that brought something out of him on the project but not once does it feel like he’s just going through the motions to get the film over and done with. He keeps the film at a nice pace for a thriller but the real reason for the film to go by so smoothly with so many plot holes is because of the acting.
While the film was designed to showcase Cortese the true star of the film is Richard Basehart who after countless roles as a loose cannon was finally able to play a man who was more down to earth. And he steals every scene that he’s in while doing so with his talent to make the audience unsure of his actions unable to tell if he’s actually the evil person Victoria is slowly building him up to be in her mind or if it’s all just that, a figment of her imagination. At one moment we’ll think we have it all figured out but with a simple expression by the actors he puts doubt in our minds. Where as the rest of the cast however is not much to write home about which shows just how useful this was to introduce American audiences to Valentina Cortese.
Sadly when it comes to House on Telegraph Hill all you have to judge it on is its face value as it never delves deeper than the story at hand. All of these interesting and intriguing characters and plot points go under developed or completely dropped in favor of the next big twist in the story. It’s the one time the saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover is wrong as the cover is all we have to judge upon – and it’s not all that interesting.
Story: 6/10
Acting: 6/10
Look/Feel: 6/10
Originality: 6/10
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 29/50
FINAL Score: 6/10
Video:
(Presented in 1.33:1 Fullscreen)
The visual Atmosphere in the movie is a key element and Fox does yet another pleasing job at restoring the film. There is prominent grain and occasional dirt on the video, while not the best job that could have been done it’s certainly watchable and is kept to a degree where it never really hinders the movie watching experience.
Score: 6.5/10
Audio:
(English 2.0 Stereo & 1.0 Mono, Spanish 2.0 Stereo)
Like I wrote in my review for No Way Out, films like these don’t succeed or fail based on their audio but rest assured that the movie sounds tip-top.
Score: 6/10
Extras:
Feature Length Commentary – Eddie Muller returns again for another track this time much more laid back as far as the story is concerned instead opting to point out all of the plot holes clearly noticeable in the movie. He doesn’t stick with only taking the film apart however, he still manages to add facts about things happening behind the scenes like the love interest that developed between Richard Basehart and Valentina Cortese. On a whole the track is both fun to listen to while at the same time informative and certainly worth your time to check out after watching the film. In fact, I will go so far as to say the track may be more entertaining than the movie itself.
Also on the DVD are Four Galleries for Posters, On-set Production Stills, Unit Photography, and a Special Shoot gallery. You’ll also find the Theatrical Trailer for House on Telegraph Hill.
Score: 6.5/10
