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Fourteen Hours (1951)
A studio thriller which found a nice medium between heavy psychological case study and crows-pleasing popcorn entertainment. There's no time wasted on preliminaries- the story begins where it ends, on the high ledge of a hotel room hundreds of feet above New York City. The film boasts a superb supporting cast; a young Grace Kelly appears in a minor role and Paul Douglas provides a strong backbone as an average-Joe traffic cop thrown in the middle of a suicidal kid and the city sidewalks. Most impressive of all, however, is the always phenomenal Barbara Bel Geddes, an underrated actress best known for her shadow-support work in 'Vertgo'. She is the subtle essence of this film, a sweet, believable girl who doesn't know much about love or life but who tries her hardest to make things work anyway. Her heart-felt performance brings the picture together, emotionally, and casts a terrifying innocence on her lover's death wish. The film is slow-moving, and at times the man on the ledge (Richard Basehart) seems frustratingly thick-headed, but strong back-up characters keep the story engaging, and an acrophobic art design keep things tense.
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