Cause for Alarm! (film)

Last updated
Cause for Alarm!
CauseforAlarmTC.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tay Garnett
Screenplay by Mel Dinelli
Tom Lewis
Based onCause for Alarm
radio play
by Larry Marcus [1]
Produced byTom Lewis
Starring Loretta Young
Barry Sullivan
Bruce Cowling
Margalo Gillmore
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by James E. Newcom
Music by André Previn
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • March 30, 1951 (1951-03-30)(New York City)
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$635,000 [2]
Box office$768,000 [2]

Cause for Alarm! is a 1951 melodrama suspense film directed by Tay Garnett, written by Mel Dinelli and Tom Lewis, based on a story by Larry Marcus. Ellen (Loretta Young) narrates the tale of "the most terrifying day of my life", how she was taking care of her bedridden husband George Z. Jones (Barry Sullivan) when he suddenly dropped dead. [3] [4] The film is in the public domain. [5]

Contents

Plot

During World War II, Ellen works as a nurse in a naval hospital. While dating Lieutenant Ranney Grahame, a military doctor with a busy schedule that leaves him with little time for her, Ellen meets Ranney's friend George Jones, a pilot. Ellen falls deeply in love with George and marries him after leaving Ranney on amicable terms. When the war ends, Ellen and George move into a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood.

Years later, not all is well with the young couple. George has proven to be selfish, petty, and domineering, and Ellen feels unfulfilled because they have yet to have any children. Despite this, Ellen still loves her husband, and when he begins suffering heart problems, she tirelessly cares for him with the help of Ranney, who periodically visits in his capacity as George's personal physician. During a heat wave, George's illness is exacerbated and he is bedridden. He also becomes increasingly delusional, to the point that Ranney concludes he needs psychological help.

George begins suspecting that Ellen and Ranney are having an affair, and that Ellen is trying to kill him by giving him overdoses of his heart medication. He writes a letter to the district attorney accusing Ellen and Ranney of conspiring to murder him, then gives the letter to Ellen to send in the mail. Ellen dutifully hands the letter to the postman, thinking it is correspondence with their insurance company. When Ellen returns to George's room, she finds him out of bed and manic. He informs his wife of the letter's contents and then brandishes a gun at her, declaring that he has arranged the situation so that he can shoot her and justify it as self-defense. Before George can pull the trigger, however, he collapses on the bed and dies.

Realizing that George's letter could still frame her as his murderer, Ellen rushes out of the house to retrieve it, but obstacle after obstacle gets in her way. She catches up to the postman only for the postman to insist that George must request the letter be returned himself, otherwise Ellen must take the issue up with the supervisor of the local post office before the letter is sent out for delivery. Meanwhile, George's snobbish aunt Clara arrives at the Jones residence to visit George. Ellen manages to return in time to prevent Clara from entering George's bedroom and finding his body, and persuades her to leave by truthfully stating that George did not want to see his aunt, as she had upset him on a previous visit. After tidying up her disheveled appearance in preparation for visiting the post office, Ellen then notices the gun still in George's hand and decides to remove and hide it. It fires a bullet into the floor while the room's window is open, but only the neighbor boy Billy hears and he mistakes it for a toy. Then a notary arrives for an appointment with George, and Ellen sends him away by insisting her husband is too ill to see visitors. As Ellen departs by car, in her haste she narrowly avoids running over Billy. Finally at the post office, the supervisor is at first sympathetic and gives Ellen a form that, in order to reclaim the letter, must be signed by George; by this point Ellen is so frantic and desperate that her behavior irks the supervisor, and he decides to send the letter out regardless.

Ellen returns home, defeated. When Ranney arrives to check on George's condition, he calms Ellen and enters the bedroom where he takes stock of his dead friend, the bullet hole in the floor, and the gun in the dresser. After repositioning George's body in the bed, he allows Ellen to explain what happened. When she is finished with her tale, the doorbell rings. Ellen despairs, believing the police have come to arrest her but, at Ranney's urging, opens the door. She finds the postman has come to return George's letter due to it having insufficient postage. Ellen is overcome with relief, and Ranney tears up the letter and burns the pieces.

Cast

Production

Director Tay Garnett thoroughly prepared both cast and crew and the film was shot in 14 days, a rather tight schedule for the era (Young reportedly used the same pre-production technique for her TV series a few years later). [4] André Previn wrote the score.

Cause for Alarm! is among a few 1950s era MGM films which apparently lapsed into the public domain after their copyrights were not renewed in the 1970s. As with all PD MGM feature-length films produced by the studio itself (and possibly a few they merely distributed), the original film elements are now owned by Turner Entertainment, with distribution rights handled by Warner Bros. (who spoofed the title in one of their 1954 short subject cartoons, Claws for Alarm ).

Casting notes

The film's producer Tom Lewis considered Judy Garland for the lead role before giving it to his wife Loretta Young. [6] Irving Bacon (a character actor who appeared in over 400 films during his career) was already widely known as the weary postman in the popular Blondie series of 28 films a decade earlier when he was cast as the postman chased by Ellen. [7] Bradley Mora was a noted child actor on Broadway and had appeared in the 1950 filmed version of Annie Get Your Gun . Margalo Gillmore's successful acting career on Broadway stretched back to the late teens and Georgia Backus (the kindly neighbor gardening next door) had a small role in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane ten years before. Richard Anderson went on to a long and successful career as a supporting actor on US television.

Former child star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (of Hal Roach's Our Gang comedy shorts) has a cameo appearance as a man repairing a hot rod car.

Filming locations

Some of the production involved location shooting on residential side streets near Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. As seen in the film, the actual address of the main filming location was 116 North Oakhurst Dr., one block south of Beverly Drive, until the house was demolished in the mid-1950s and has since been replaced. Neighboring houses also seen in the film which surrounded the location on Oakhurst Drive and Plymouth Avenue are still standing.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $518,000 in the US and Canada and $250,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $174,000. [2]

Critical response

Loretta Young's performance in the film was praised by both Time magazine and The New York Times when it was released in 1951. Cause For Alarm!.JPG
Loretta Young's performance in the film was praised by both Time magazine and The New York Times when it was released in 1951.

When the film was released in 1951, The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, wrote, "Here a simple situation is turned into a thoroughly chilling business by highlighting the most humdrum staples of the everyday American scene ... Cause for Alarm! proves more than anything else that superior writing, directing and acting - and some imagination - can make a little go a long way ... The suspense, under Director Tay Garnett, mounts steadily, almost unbearably, until a final plot twist so original that it's almost a swindle."

Although Crowther criticized the casting of "newcomer" Bruce Cowling as Ranney, calling his performance "wooden", he had only praise for Young, writing "she does splendidly as the desperate housewife, avoiding all the pitfalls, even in her hysterical breakdown at the end." [8]

Time magazine characterized the film "as the year's first thriller with an honest quota of thrills. It pulls off the old Hitchcock trick of giving commonplace people, events and settings a sinister meaning, and it develops its simple, one-track idea with frightening logic." Time's review also noted the strong supporting performances of Margalo Gillmore and Irving Bacon along with the film's "quiet, sunny atmosphere of a pleasant residential street" in Los Angeles. [9]

However, in later decades the film was widely ignored (falling into the public domain) and the few retrospective reviews were less flattering. François Truffaut's short overview of Cause for Alarm! was kinder than many when he wrote, "But all those effects hit home, perfectly timed, and isn't that what counts?" [10] 21st century reviews have tended towards Truffaut's take along with citing the film's suburban noir setting.

Critic Craig Butler also cites the performances of Gillmore and Bacon, along with describing the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg and score by André Previn as "huge pluses." [11] Sean Axmaker calls Cause for Alarm! "An unusual entry into the film noir school of paranoia" which "trades the dark alleys and long shadows of urban menace for the sunny, tree-lined streets of middle-class domesticity" whilst noting, "Young's deadened narration adds an eerie mood of doom to the suburban setting." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Kentucky</i> (film) 1938 film by Otto Brower, David Butler

Kentucky is a 1938 American drama sports film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle Peter.

<i>Perfect Strangers</i> (1950 film) 1950 American comedy drama directed by Bretaigne Windust

Perfect Strangers, also released as Too Dangerous to Love in some territories, is a 1950 American comedy-drama film directed by Bretaigne Windust. Edith Sommer wrote the screenplay from an adaptation written by George Oppenheimer, based on the 1939 play Ladies and Gentlemen by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht. The film stars Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan as two jurors who fall in love while sequestered during a murder trial. Thelma Ritter, Margalo Gillmore, and Anthony Ross co-star in supporting roles.

<i>Jules and Jim</i> 1962 film by François Truffaut

Jules and Jim is a 1962 French New Wave romantic drama film directed, produced and co-written by François Truffaut. Set before, during, and after World War I, it follows a tragic love triangle involving French bohemian Jim, his shy Austrian friend Jules, and Jules' girlfriend and later wife Catherine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tay Garnett</span> American film director and writer (1894–1977)

William Taylor "Tay" Garnett was an American film director, writer, and producer. He made nearly 50 films in various genres during his 55-year career, The Postman Always Rings Twice and China Seas being two of the most commercially successful. In his later years, he focused mainly on television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irving Bacon</span> American actor (1893–1965)

Irving Ernest Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films.

George White was an American film editor.

<i>The Postman Always Rings Twice</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by Tay Garnett

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 American film noir directed by Tay Garnett and starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, and Cecil Kellaway. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain. This adaptation of the novel also features Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames and Audrey Totter. The musical score was written by George Bassman and Erich Zeisl.

<i>Eternally Yours</i> (film) 1939 film by Tay Garnett

Eternally Yours is a 1939 American comedy drama film produced and directed by Tay Garnett with Walter Wanger as executive producer, from a screenplay by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne. The film stars Loretta Young and David Niven, and also features a strong supporting cast including Broderick Crawford, Billie Burke, Eve Arden, ZaSu Pitts, and C. Aubrey Smith. Composer Werner Janssen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music.

<i>Gaby</i> (film) 1956 drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt

Gaby is a 1956 American drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Leslie Caron, John Kerr, Cedric Hardwicke, Taina Elg and Margalo Gillmore. It is the third version of the 1930 play Waterloo Bridge, previously made into films Waterloo Bridge (1931) and Waterloo Bridge (1940). It is the only version of the play made in color, and the least faithful to it. The title, the names of the main characters, and plot details were all changed. Unlike the 1931 and 1940 versions, this film ends happily.

<i>Tomorrow Is Forever</i> 1946 film by Irving Pichel

Tomorrow Is Forever is a 1946 American romantic drama film directed by Irving Pichel, and starring Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles and George Brent. It was also the film debut of Richard Long and Natalie Wood. It was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and was based upon the 1943 serialized novel of the same name by Gwen Bristow.

<i>Along Came Jones</i> (film) 1945 film by Stuart Heisler

Along Came Jones is a 1945 American Western comedy film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest, and Dan Duryea. The film was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the 1944 novel Useless Cowboy by Alan Le May. It was the only feature film produced by Cooper during his long film career.

<i>Wife, Husband and Friend</i> 1939 film by Gregory Ratoff

Wife, Husband and Friend is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Loretta Young, Warner Baxter and Binnie Barnes in the three title roles, respectively. The film, based on a script by Nunnally Johnson, tells the story of a contractor and his wife, and how their musical ambitions result in marital tensions and a romantic triangle with a professional singer. The film was remade as Everybody Does It (1949), starring Paul Douglas as the contractor, Celeste Holm as his wife, and Linda Darnell as the singer.

<i>In Case of Adversity</i> 1958 film by Claude Autant-Lara

In Case of Adversity is a 1958 French crime film directed by Claude Autant-Lara and starring Jean Gabin, Brigitte Bardot and Edwige Feuillère. It was released as Love Is My Profession in the United States. It tells the story of a married lawyer who rigs a trial to acquit a young female criminal he has become obsessed with, even to the point of imagining they might have a life together and start a family. The screenplay was written by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost after the novel In Case of Emergency by Georges Simenon. The film was released in France on 17 September 1958.

<i>Elopement</i> (film) 1951 comedy film directed by Henry Koster

Elopement is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Clifton Webb, Anne Francis, Charles Bickford and William Lundigan.

<i>China</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by John Farrow

China is a 1943 film directed by John Farrow and starring Loretta Young, Alan Ladd and William Bendix. Ladd's character David Llewellyn Jones, wearing a fedora, a leather jacket, khakis and a beard stubble, was an inspiration for Indiana Jones. Aside from Tala Birell as one of Jones' paramours at the beginning of the film, the entire supporting cast is Asian, including Philip Ahn and Richard Loo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Gillmore</span> American actor

Frank Parker Gillmore was an American playwright and a stage and early film actor. He was a founder and former President of Actor's Equity.

<i>Love Is News</i> 1937 film by Tay Garnett

Love Is News is a 1937 American romantic comedy film starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Don Ameche. The movie was directed by Tay Garnett and was the first film for which Power had top billing. The picture was remade in 1947 as That Wonderful Urge, with Power again and Gene Tierney.

<i>Private Number</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by Roy Del Ruth

Private Number is a 1936 American drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Loretta Young, Robert Taylor and Basil Rathbone. Sometimes known by the alternative title of Secret Interlude, the film was based on the play Common Clay by Cleves Kinkead which had previously been made into a film of the same name in 1930. Following the more rigorous enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code after 1934, many of the more salacious elements of the earlier film were left out.

<i>Two Men in Town</i> (2014 film) 2014 French film

Two Men in Town is a 2014 French-American drama film directed by Rachid Bouchareb and co-written with Olivier Lorelle and Yasmina Khadra. The film stars Forest Whitaker, Harvey Keitel, Ellen Burstyn, Luis Guzmán and Brenda Blethyn. The film is a remake of the José Giovanni film Deux hommes dans la ville.

References

  1. ↑ Vallance, Tom. Lawrence B. Marcus, obituary. The Independent, September 7, 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, 1962.
  3. ↑ Cause for Alarm! at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  4. 1 2 Cause for Alarm! at IMDb.
  5. ↑ Cause for Alarm! at Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ Tooze, Gary W. Cause for Alarm!, review. DVD Beaver, 2007. Accessed: May 17, 2020.
  7. ↑ Brumburgh, Gary: Irving Bacon. IMDb biography. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ Crowther, Bosley. "The screen: three newcomers seen here". The New York Times, March 30, 1951. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Cinema: The New Pictures". Time, February 26, 1951. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  10. ↑ Truffaut, Francois and Wheeler, Winston Dixon. Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut , Indiana University Press, 1993, ISBN   0-253-20771-1, p. 122. Retrieved 10 February 2008. Wheeler noted Truffaut's parenthetical aside, translated from French as "Yes, it is she", "is open to some debate." Wheeler's take was, "Perhaps Truffaut is referring to Young's pronounced penchant for 'victimized' leading roles."
  11. ↑ Butler, Craig. Allmovie by Rovi. No date. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ Axmaker, Sean. Editorial review to Film Noir Vol. 1: The Stranger/Cause For Alarm!. Amazon.com. No date. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.