The Window, an RKO b-noir that was a big box office hit in 1949, features an Oscar-winning performance from child-actor Bobby Driscoll as a kid who has told too many tall stories to be believed when he actually witnesses a murder. Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, the movie is a tight thriller of entrapment, where the tenements of working-class New York are a prison few escape. Filmed on the streets and in deep focus, The Window challenges Jule’s Dassin’s The Naked City (1948) as the first documentary-style noir – it was actually completed two months before The Naked City in January 1948. Director Ted Tatzlaff and DPs Robert De Grass and William Steiner fashion a cityscape and built spaces that express a deeply oppressive ambience.
The Window (RKO 1949) 73min
Directed by Ted Tetzlaff
Writing credits: Cornell Woolrich (story) and Mel Dinelli (screenplay)
Cast:
Barbara Hale – Mrs. Mary Woodry
Arthur Kennedy – Mr. Ed Woodry
Paul Stewart – Joe Kellerson
Ruth Roman – Mrs. Jean Kellerson
Bobby Driscoll – Tommy Woodry
Original Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography by Robert De Grasse William Steiner
Wonderful choice for the royal carpet treatment at FilmsNoir.net, THE WINDOW is a tense and absorbing drama that bears some comparisons with Woolrich’s later REAR WINDOW, and at least in suspenseful atmospherics with THE FALLEN IDOL and SHADOW OF A DOUBT. As you note in this concise and appreciative capsule the young Bobby Driscoll steals the show with a performance that compellingly negotiates fear and panic. This may be the ultimate ‘boy who cried wolf’ drama, and I very much like your assertion that (with that Dassin film) this is the best and earliest example of ‘documentary noir’. Tetzlaff, who lensed Hitchcock’s NOTORIOUS is a master craftsman, as you display here in this stunning caps. I’m tempted to put my Warner Archives DVD into my player again this week. This is a long-time favorite.
I do remember this as a taut and chilling film that waste’s not a single frame. Driscoll gave one of the best performances ever by a young actor. I did feel that ‘oppressive ambience’ you speak of.
Tony,
Wonderful collection of images and a great synopsis as well. This is another film I’m going to have to get on my list of things to see. It looks like a great find.
Hey Sam, Frank, ans Jon. Thanks for your comments guys!
Nice write up & great Noir, I’ve located a few of the NYC locations also.
Hi Cigar Joe, I noticed you mentioned that you located a few of the NYC filming locations for “THE WINDOW” 1949 RKO. I’ve been trying to find the actual street where the tenements were supposed to be in the film. I managed to get the name of Hull street, but this is only located in Brooklyn and not Manhattan lower eastside where it is said to have been. Do you have any ideas? I’d be so grateful for any info. Cheers, Johnroy.(St.Helens, UK.
Yes I too found that Hull Street is in Brooklyn. At first I assumed the film took place on the Lower East Side from the opening sequence, but now rather than looking North we are actually looking South at the skyline.
Its an amalgamation of locations.
When Bobby Driscoll runs to the police station he runs through the stone arch tunnel at East 106th Street at the Park Avenue Viaduct, you can see the 3rd Avenue El station in the background, next we cut to the Fire House at 157 East 67th Street adjoining a police station.
see images & go to google earth
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/cigarjoe/TheWindowEngineCo39HL16157East67thSt.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/cigarjoe/157East67th.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/cigarjoe/E106thStreet.jpg
Thanks Cigar Joe!