THE DESPERATE HOURS

US, 1955, 112 minutes, Black and White.
Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Gig Young, Dewey Martin, Cathy O'Donnell.
Directed by William Wyler.

The Desperate Hours is an enjoyable melodrama - rather grim. It features Fredric March as the father of a family which is taken hostage by a gang of criminals on the run. The material is fairly conventional, even B grade material. However, with the direction of multi-award winning director William Wyler, the film is quite striking. Photography in black and white is expertly done by Lee Garmes. Humphrey Bogart, towards the end of his career, moves to a gangster role once again. The supporting cast is very good indeed. The film has the look of the 50s, but its theme and treatment is relevant to any decade. William Wyler was to make Friendly Persuasion at this time.

1. How successful a thriller was this? where did it gain its tension? It was based on a play. Was this evident? How did the black and white photography, the house atmosphere, the sense of time add to the atmosphere of the film? The melodramatic overtones and details? The use of the musical score?

2. How well did the film create its ordinary atmosphere? Breakfast in the how, the various members of the family beginning the day? Ralph and his father? Mother's orders about talking in the car? The ordinary atmosphere of housework etc.? How well could an audience identify with this ordinariness? How important was this atmosphere for the rest of the film?

3. How did Dan Hilliard represent the ordinary man in the suburbs? His home life, his job, ordinary wealth, ordinary style? How did his wife represent the ordinary housewife? His daughter and her romantic ups-and-downs? The young boy and his school friends?

4. How did the film show the gangsters and the danger transforming the lives and personalities of the family? How were they changed? In what ways for the better? In what ways for the worse?

5. Insofar as they had to resort to violence, how were they equalized with the gangsters? The wife and the gun? The father and his use of tricks? Ralph and his unwary daring? The contempt of the daughter?

6. How well did the film make the transition from the gangster atmosphere (via the radio) to the police and the menace to Jesse Bard? Was the police atmosphere and the threat to Jesse well communicated?

7. How well did the police handle the situation? The FBI and the local police? Jesse and his personal fear? How well did the police handle searching for the criminals?

8. How important was it that the family not communicate with the police? The risk of Hilliard's note? How helpless did they feel? The fact that they had to do their ordinary work and life despite what was happening at home? How wearing was this? How suspenseful for the audience? In which details was this best illustrated?

9. What was your response to the gangsters themselves? Glenn Griffin and his brutality? His master-minding of the attempt? His revenge on Jesse Bard? The Humphrey Bogart style? His resourcefulness in keeping them in control? How well did he behave towards the family? Could they have expected worse? Hal and his devotion to his brother? His attraction towards the daughter? His final exasperation and leaving? How repulsive was Kobish? His lack of brains? His brutality? His childish brutality? The fact that the others had to keep him in control?

10. How violent was this film? Was the violence well integrated into the story and themes? How much violence was necessary from the family?

11. How important was the sub-plot with Chuck and Cindy? The suspicions of Chuck and the audience tension when he began to investigate? was he wise in manoeuvring Cindy out of the home as he did?

12. How did your attitudes towards the criminals change when Kobish murdered the old man? How did it reinforce the real danger for the family?

13. Were you sorry when Hal left? Were you sorry about his death? How necessary was it?

14. The importance of the final siege? Did it seem overdone with so many police? The risks for the people inside? The local police and politicians with an eye on elections rather than human lives? The cynical overtones of these characters?

15. How daring was the final confrontation between Hilliard and Griffin? How much courage did it require? How had Hilliard changed because of this experience? How violent had he become? His home, his family, his life? The deep feelings of revenge? Why was he unable then, to kill Griffin? Is this the reaction of the ordinary man?

16. How well did the film explore the questions of brutality and violence? Courage and fear? Revenge in the heart and revenge in action?

17. Although the film was made in the mid-50s, how real is it in the 70s? Have things changed at all?