The suburbs exploded in the 1950s with people wanting to get away from the City Life. They yearned for a life beyond share apartment walls. They wanted privacy by having their own single unit house on a nice lawn with a picket fence. They wanted a place to park their car instead of cruising the blocks for hours looking for an open spot. Most importantly was their desire to feel safe since the city was seen as a land of seedy criminals lurking in alleys and stairwells ready to mug. The suburbs promised safety. The Desperate Hours was a jolt to the suburban dream. Here was a family that achieved suburban success and yet they were less safe than if they lived in a rundown apartment building. One day they opened the door and instead of the Welcome Wagon, they were met by an armed fugitive.
The Hillard family is having a breakfast in their vast suburban home outside of Indianapolis. The father Danial Hillard (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde‘s Fredric March) is getting ready for his commute to work. His son Ralphy (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’s Richard Eyer) declares himself grown up enough to be known as Ralph. Daughter Cindy (The Wild One’s Mary Murphy) is eager for her date with new boyfriend Chuck (Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia‘s Gig Young). She’s no longer a little girl either. His wife Ellie (The Ten Commandments‘ Martha Scott) is ready for another day as a housekeeper. It looks like another boring day in the suburbs of Indianapolis. After her husband and kids have left, Ellie gets an unexpected knock on her door. Turns out to be prison escapee Glenn Griffin (Casablanca’s Humphrey Bogart), his brother Hal (Ten Thousand Bedrooms’ Dewey Martin) and Samuel Kobish (Even Angels Eat Beans‘ Robert Middleton). They are at the house needing a place to lay low while waiting for their connection to arrive with a care package. Why did Griffin and his gang pick the Hillard’s house? Because the cops wouldn’t be looking for them in such a nice house. Plus Hillard’s have a garage to hide their getaway car from the cops. As the rest of the family comes home for the evening, they discover that mom doesn’t have dinner ready, but Griffin will serve up hot lead if they try to be heroes.
The Desperate Hours was the penultimate film of Humphrey Bogart’s career. He would pass away two years later from cancer. The role of Griffin has him back to being the menacing gangster. In a way this is the perfect bookend to his first major role of Duke Mantee in Petrified Forest. He’s a man who has zero plans of going back to prison . He doesn’t care what he has to do to get out of the suburbs to find his version of safety. He’s not the most horrifying character on the screen. That belongs to Samuel Kobish who is as creepy as you can be while getting the approval of the motion picture code office. Kobish beyond menacing in the dark as he watches the daughter.
The film is full of small roles for actors playing cops that would become major stars on television. Ray Collins who would soon play Lieutenant Arthur Tragg on Perry Mason. Ray Teal became better known as Sheriff Roy Coffee on Bonanza. Simon Oakland would be the editor on Kolchak: The Nightstalker. Alan Reed’s voice might be familiar since he’s Fred Flintstone. A driver with an unexpected passenger is Joe Flynn who played Captain Binghamton on McHale’s Navy. Finally we get Beverly Garland before Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
Ultimately the star is Bogart showing that even towards the end of his life, he’s still an outlaw. He doesn’t play Griffin for laughs or turn on his charm too hard. He’s a man who is willing to put a gun to a kid’s head to get his way in a situation. He’s willing to be the monster that proves you are not safe in the suburbs. The threat of evil can show up on your doorstep no matter where you live. The Desperate Hours was another great performance from Bogart who provided so many of them over his career.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The new restoration by Arrow Films is from a 6K scan of the original VistaVision negative. The 1080p imagery is full of details in the black and white world. You really see the stubble on Bogart’s face. The Audio is LPCM mono. Everything sounds crisp and clear. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio commentary by film historian Daniel Kremer starts with him explaining what VistaVision means. He gets into the deep focus used by William Wyler in his film.
Trouble in Suburbia (38:51) is appreciation of the film by José Arroyo, Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. He points out the movie has been remade, but the original is the best of the batch. He sees the film being about how to be a man in the new America among other things. We learn the significance of Ralphy’s bike on the lawn.
The Lonely Man (14:54) is a visual essay by Eloise Ross, co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque. She goes into Humphrey Bogart’s impact on cinema. She goes into how he achieves a brutal tension in The Desperate Hours. We get a sense that the family is doomed when Bogart knocks on their door.
Scaled Down and Ratcheted Up (11:47) is an audio interview with Catherine Wyler, daughter of director William Wyler. She talks about how her dad didn’t take her to the sets that often to protect the kids from Hollywood. She did see the set for Desperate Hours and remember it was a scary place. She talks about Bogart coming to dinner.
Lobby cards gallery has over a dozen cards from the American and Spanish language release. The US ones have been color tinted so you don’t realize the film is black and white.
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Philip Kemp and Neil Sinyard
Theatrical Trailer (2:19) talks about how this was a bestselling book and a Broadway play. We get a fearful sight of a home invasion.
Arrow Video presents The Desperate Hours. Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Joseph Hayes. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin, Gig Young, Whit Bissell, Ray Collins, Simon Oakland, Alan Reed, Joe Flynn & Beverly Garland. Running Time: 112 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 17, 2023.
