Fourteen Hours (1951)

“I don’t mind losing you, but I don’t want a whole daisy chain of cops sailing out that window.”  14 December 2020

A normal beat cop, Officer Charles Dunnigan (Paul Douglas), is tasked with talking a would-be jumper off a ledge fifteen floors above the New York streets. 

Overall, Fourteen Hours is an entertaining film with plenty of drama and tension.  There are a couple of things that made the movie stand out to me.  First, I was incredibly impressed with the way the film was put together by director Henry Hathaway.  Fourteen Hours featured far more action than I expected from a film set on a 2’X4’ ledge.  All of the comings and goings in the hotel room attached to the ledge and everything going on on the street below help keep things interesting and moving.  It’s an amazing amount of activity for a little piece of concrete.  And I was equally impressed with some of the camera work.  There were moments filmed from the ledge looking down to the street below that made me feel as if I were there.  My vertigo actually kicked in.    

Second, the acting is superb.  Paul Douglas, in particular, is excellent.  He’s so believable trying to talk the man off the ledge, all the while conveying the fact that he has no idea what he’s doing.  And you can see the real care in his voice and face as each new idea is brought forward.  Really strong piece of acting.  The rest of the cast is just as good, including: Richard Basehart as the confused man on the ledge and Agnes Moorehead as the overwrought mother.  I also enjoyed spotting a few uncredited faces in the cast, like Russell Hicks, Harvey Lembeck, and Ossie Davis (especially proud of myself for this one).   

Fourteen Hours is also known for being Grace Kelly’s first film role.  She’s fine and all, but her storyline could have been cut without harming the film at all.  That extra five minutes weren’t really necessary.  I won’t say the same about the subplot featuring Jeffery Hunter and Debra Paget.  Their “cute” little story made for a nice contrast to the drama on the ledge.

 

7/10