Directed by:
Rudolph MatéCinematography:
Joseph WalkerComposer:
George DuningCast:
William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb, Adele Jergens, Stephen Dunne, Lois Maxwell, Berry Kroeger, Steven Geray, Robert Osterloh, Ellen Corby, Charles Cane (more)Plots(1)
In this faithful remake of Blind Alley (1939), psychoanalyst Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb), his wife, his son, and some friends are taken hostage by escaped murderer Al Walker (William Holden) and his gang, including girlfriend Betty (Nina Foch). Collins, an advocate of rehabilitating criminals through psychiatry, induces his captor to talk about himself through the course of the night. By calmly and methodically piecing together the strands of the killer's unconscious motivation, Collins rids Walker of his literally murderous rage and prevents a massacre. Shrinks who practice in the noir universe are frequently painted as absurdly omnipotent. When not using their power for evil, like Dr. Cross (Vincent Price) in Aubrey Schenck's Shock (1949), they may be capable, like the benign Dr. Collins, of miracle cures. A more complex depiction of an unrealistically powerful, but ambiguously motivated, psychiatrist can be seen in Joseph Losey's The Sleeping Tiger (1954). In that British film, Dr. Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox) cures a criminal in a few short months but destroys his own marriage in the process. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
William Holden
USA
Best movies:
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Nina Foch
Netherlands
Best movies:
Prescription: Murder (1968) (TV movie)
Spartacus (1960)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Lee J. Cobb
USA
Best movies:
12 Angry Men (1957)
The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Adele Jergens
USA
Best movies:
The Sound of Fury (1950)
Fallen Angel (1945)
Show Boat (1951)
Stephen Dunne
USA
Best movies:
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Shock (1946)
The Dark Past (1948)
Lois Maxwell
Canada
Best movies:
Goldfinger (1964)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Stairway to Heaven (1946)
Berry Kroeger
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Act of Violence (1948)
Gun Crazy (1950)
Steven Geray
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
All About Eve (1950)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Gilda (1946)
Robert Osterloh
USA
Best movies:
Inherit the Wind (1960)
White Heat (1949)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Ellen Corby
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Vertigo (1958)
Sabrina (1954)
Charles Cane
USA
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Big Heat (1953)
Robert B. Williams
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
North by Northwest (1959)
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Sam Harris
Australia
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Lester Dorr
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Mary Gordon
UK
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
It Started with Eve (1941)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Edward Earle
Canada
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Brick Sullivan
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Love Crazy (1941)
Cosmo Sardo
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
North by Northwest (1959)
Selmer Jackson
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Wilton Graff
USA
Best movies:
Lust for Life (1956)
Compulsion (1959)
Reign of Terror (1949)