CAUSE FOR ALARM
US, 1951, 74 minutes, Black and white.
Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling, Margalo Gillmore, Irving Bacon.
Directed by Tay Garnett.
Cause for Alarm is an efficiently made MGM support film of 1950. Directed by veteran Tay Garnett, it is a star vehicle for Loretta Young. The film takes place in one day - with a flashback. Loretta is an ordinary housewife looking after an ailing husband. However, he is manic and suspects his wife of trying to kill him. He writes a letter indicating this to the district attorney. After his threatening his wife and his dying, she makes an effort to get the letter back. After all kinds of pleas, there is a final irony that her husband had not put sufficient stamps on the envelope and the postman, earlier reluctant to give the letter back, returns it for more stamps - all according to regulations.
The film is minor - however, it is well-made and runs a brief time.
1.Entertaining domestic thriller?
2.B-production? MGM values? Black and white photography? The home situation, the ordinary town?
3.The title, the focus for Ellen? The dramatising of her alarm?
4.The portrait of Ellen, cleaning, looking after her husband, care for him? The flashback memories of her working with the doctor, meeting George, his military service, falling in love? Marriage? His antagonistic behaviour, suspicions? His tantrums? The letter? Giving him his dinner? Talk with the doctor? Talk with the small boy, giving him cookies? The neighbour watching? The chat with the postman and giving him the letter? The irony of later chasing him and his stand on regulations - as well as his complaints? George and his jealousy, getting the gun, telling her the truth, the story about his malevolence as a boy and destroying the boat, so as not to give it to the other child? His death? Ellen's anxiety, the visit of the aunt, the concern of the neighbour, the inspector coming to the door? Chasing the postman, going to the superintendent? The doctor's arrival, feeling trapped? The letter arriving back?
5.George, military service, genial, marriage? Hypochondriac, the writing of the letter, concealing it? Getting out of bed and watching out the window? The paranoid contents of his letter? His dinner, telling Ellen the story about his childhood, threatening her, the gun, his death?
6.The doctor, friendship, concern? Coming to the house? The final dilemma?
7.The incidental characters: the small boy, friendship, the cookies, almost getting knocked over by the car? The postman and his complaints? The superintendent and regulations and suspicions? The aunt and her visit? The discussion with the neighbour, her kindliness? The phone call to the pharmacist?
8.The film's building up of tension? The credibility of the plot? The frustration in getting the letter back, the danger? The pleasant irony of not enough stamps?
