Let me explain. I've always stumbled upon Cry Terror in progress. Always too, with the scene in either the pent house apartment or the house. I never stuck around, feeling, now I know, correctly, that the film is best savored from the beginning. Those two scenes are not indicative of the whole film, far from it, There's quite a bit of excellent on location New York City cinematography and also some of Los Angeles South Main and East 4th Street, filling in for the Lower Manhattan money pickup at the bank sequence.
Directed and written by Andrew L. Stone. Stone was born in Oakland, California he attended the University of California and then joined the San Francisco Film Exchange. He worked for Paramount (1938-41), United Artists (1943-47) and MGM (1955-62). Wanting more artistic independence he set up his own production company in 1943. In 1950 he filmed Highway 301 (1950) a good taught Noir starring Steve Cochran followed by The Steel Trap (1952). Stone had a penchant for filming on location and this film deliverers it in style. Bravo.
Cinematography was by Walter Strenge (Hit and Run (1957)) and Music was by Howard Jackson.
The film stars a handful of Classic Noir, Transitional Noir, and Neo Noir vets. James Mason (Odd Man Out (1947), Caught (1949), The Reckless Moment (1949), One Way Street (1950), The Man Between (1953), Lolita (1962)), as Jim Molner,
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| James Mason as as Jim Molner |
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| Inger Stevens as Joan Molner |
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| Rod Steiger as Paul Hoplin |
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| Neil Brand as Steve |
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| Angie Dickinson as Eileen Kelly and Jack Klugman as Vince |
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| Kenneth Tobey as Frank Cole |
The Story
NYC. 20th Century Airlines. Office. The daily mail. Secretary. Opening letters. Crap. A threat. A bomb. Explosive RDX. On a Douglas DC-4. Now on a flight to NYC.
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| Barney Phillips as Dan Pringle |
A phone call. Paul Hoplin. A waco. Ex Army. Bomb squad. Tells the president of the airline that the bomb is in the behind the seat pouch of such and such a seat number. He hangs up. A radio call to the pilot. The attendants find the bomb. Its only the size of a cigarette pack. It's jettisoned out the pilots cabin wing window. It hits the ground. It goes BOOM! It was real.
Hoplin calls again Tells the pres about bomb number two. Its in the luggage compartment. Can't get to it. Too bad. He hangs up.
The FBI call is for the plane to make an emergency landing at the nearest field. Its all on live TV. The bomb in the luggage is a fake.
The bottom drops out of his stomach. He tries to call Hoplin at his hotel. He checked out. No forwarding address. He calls out sick. He goes home. He flicks on the news.
His wife Joan is surprised. I was duped he tells her. He explains that he made the bomb that was planted on the airplane. Hoplin told him he worked for the government. The Defense Department needed a very small and simple triggering devise and Hoplin thought of his old electronics wiz, bomb squad buddy Jim. Before Joan tells him to call the police, there is a ring at the door. Its Hoplin. He's got a gun out. Tells Jim to relax.
Meanwhile FBI procedural part of the film swings into action trying to track who sat in the seat with access to the pouch. Getting the names of all disgruntled airline employees, etc.,etc.
Patty the Molner's little daughter arrives home on the school bus. Hoplin takes the Molner's out to a 1957 Imperial Crown Southampton driven by speed freak Steve. Hoplin has them put on taped glasses so they can't see where they are going.
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| 1957 Imperial Crown Southampton |
Hoplin explains to Jim that nothing can be traced to any of Hoplin's crew, and that he is going to use Joan to collect the payoff. And shes going to do it because Hoplin will have Patty and Jim as hostages. Kelly and Vince will hold them while Hoplin and Steve will take Joan.
The next call from Hoplin is to the home of Roger Adams the airline president. While he is out making the call fro a phone booth, Joan is left alone with "creepy" Stevey.
Stevey is popping pills and eyeing Joan and getting ideas. Hoplin tells Adams to have the money at the First National Bank. Meanwhile Steyey is getting the hots for Joan, who is not responding well to his attention.
Here's where the terror of the title comes into the picture. She's saved from a fate worse than death by Hoplin arriving back.
Meanwhile Vince and Kelly arrive at her Penthouse apartment overlooking the East River, Queens and The Queensboro Bridge. BTW this location is very similar to Barbara Stanwyck's Sutton Place apartment in Sorry, Wrong Number.
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| The Penthouse |
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| Queensboro Bridge and East River |
The money pickup is set up for the next day. They give Joan a time schedule. She has to be back up at the safe house by 1:30 PM. If shes not there by then, her husband and Patty will be killed and another bomb is set to go off by 1:45 PM and is in a place where it will kill 100 people.
Joan gets the money and heads off for her rendezvous with Hoplin following his instructions to the letter.
Noirsville
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| Add caption |
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| Tail Fins |
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| Tail Fins |
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| Tail Fins |
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| One of the Manhattan tunnels |
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| Westside Highway |
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| PATH tubes |
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| Kenneth Tobey and Jack Kruschen as F.B.I. Agent Charles Pope |
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| Tail Fins |
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| Tail Fins |
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| Westside Highway |
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| PATH Station |
The pace in unrelenting. The Stones ratchet up the tension quite masterfully. Small mistakes in judgement or driving dilemmas an turn innocent mistakes into life threatening situations. Like in all Noirs people make dumb decisions that could make things even worse.
The film is entertaining enough for me and the cast performs compellingly. There is some great New York City archival footage of one of the Manhattan tunnels, footage of the long gone West Side Highway and also some sequences in the PATH tubes. Screenaps from an online streamer 7/10
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