Turner Classic Movies Vintage Film Gem The Window & Bernard Herrman September 1st 2009 Review

You’ve only got two chances this month to catch one of most over-looked suspenseful film noirs ever made. I’m referring to 1949’s The Window which is a clever variation on “The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ story, starring Bobby Driscoll and directed by Ted Tetzlaff who had worked as Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematographer on 1946’s Notorious. It airs at 4:30 a.m. in the morning on September 1st and on Monday September 21st at 12:45 p.m.

The story was based on a novella by crime writer Cornell Woolrich who’s considered the father of noir, since many of the stories he wrote during the 30s and 40s were turned into movies like 1954’s Rear Window and Truffaut’s 1967 Bride Wore Black.

The Window: A young precocious boy witnesses a horrific crime, committed by his neighbors, but since he’s made up stories in the past, no one believes him. Eventually, the neighbors and ‘bad guys’ meet their accuser and rather than take any chances that someone might actually listen to him, they decide to make him ‘go away’.

The cast includes Arthur Kennedy, and Barbara Hale as Tommy ‘s(Bobby Driscoll's) well meaning parents and Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman as the neighbors. The film may sound like it couldn’t possible work and yes, it’s been re-made several times but never as effectively as in this ‘b’ movie. Only 73 minutes long, you’ll be at the edge of your seat.

Bobby Driscoll is the superb juvenile actor and he won a special miniature Oscar for his role here. He was also the very first actor Walt Disney put under contract and he appeared in 1946’s Song of the South and 1950’s Treasure Island. He was also the voice and model for 1953’s Peter Pan. Unfortunately Driscoll didn’t make it as an actor as he grew up and he didn’t adjust to losing his fame very well. In the 1960s he was addicted to drugs and tragically died in 1968 but wasn’t identified for several months.

The Window is a superb gem, just under most people's radar.   Remember to DVR or TIVO it.

Airing in the evening on Monday September 1st are several films featuring the movie music of superb composer Bernard Herrman.

The least known of those shown would be 1945’s Hangover Square (airing Monday September 1st at 5 p.m. PST) which stars Laird Cregar as a composer named George Bones who suffers from black outs during which he turns into a murderer. With Linda Darnell and George Sanders. The terrific Bernard Herrmann score helps express Cregar’s inner madness and animates the trance like homicidal attacks as well as the noises that sets off his unique seizures. The final part of the film showcases Bones’ (Laird Cregar) of a concerto macabre, a piece that expresses musically the killers madness and helps him become aware of his actions. This was Laird Cregar’s first starring role and unfortunately his last. The actor, who weighed around 300 lbs when he made this movie, went on a crash diet losing 100 lbs which tragically resulted in the actor having a fatal heart attack.

The 1941 classic The Devil and Daniel Webster also features a memorable Herrman score. Edward Arnold and Walter Huston star in the story of the farmer who sells his soul for seven years of good crops. It airs at 6:30 p.m. on the West Coast.

The very first film score Herrman composted for Orson Welle’s 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane which airs at 8:30 p.m. PST. The Magnificent Ambersons when the 1942 film was massively re-edited by the studio behind Orson Welles’ back, they also cut a lot of Bernard Herrmann’s brilliant score. Herrman removed his name from the credits. It airs at 10:45 p.m.

Good stuff.