Fingers at the Window (1942)

The City of Chicago is gripped by an Axe Murderer. The streets are empty at night as there has been six murders and six people have been caught, but they are lunatics. Only one person has ... See full summary »

Director:

Charles Lederer

Writers:

Rose Caylor (screenplay), Lawrence P. Bachmann (screenplay),

Stars:

Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lew Ayres	...	Oliver Duffy
Laraine Day	...	Edwina Brown
Basil Rathbone	...	Dr. H. Santelle
Walter Kingsford	...	Dr. Cromwall
Miles Mander	...	Dr. Kurt Immelman
Charles D. Brown	...	Inspector Gallagher
Cliff Clark	...	Lieutenant Allison
James Flavin	...	Lieutenant Schaeffer
Russell Gleason	...	Ogilvie
William Tannen	...	Devlan
Mark Daniels	...	Haguey
Bert Roach	...	Krum
Russell Hicks	...	Dr. Chandley
Charles Wagenheim	...	Fred Bixley
Robert Homans	...	Officer O'Garrity

Storyline

The City of Chicago is gripped by an Axe Murderer. The streets are empty at night as there has been six murders and six people have been caught, but they are lunatics. Only one person has lived to tell about it and that was Edwina, who is as dumb as a brick. If it were not for Oliver, she would be number seven. When there is a second attempt on Edwina, Oliver figures that the crimes are not random and that someone is hypnotizing these people to do his bidding, but the police and Edwina are skeptical.

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Plot Keywords:

axe | actor | murder | police | nurse | 

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Taglines:

ROMANCE AT DAYBREAK! (original poster - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dedos Diabólicos

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lew Ayres changed his military status from "conscientious-objector" to "non-combatant" in April 1942 causing great consternation at M-G-M, which already reshot the "Dr Kildare" film he had just completed, removing him from the cast completely. By the time this film was released, the furor had died down and it opened without incident. In fact, one reviewer noted the business was brisk, possibly because of Ayres' honesty and courage in jeapardizing his movie career for the sake of his principles.

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Soundtracks

"Over the Rainbow"
(1939) (uncredited)
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
Whistled by Lew Ayres (whistling dubbed by Robert Bradford)

User Reviews

Enjoyable, overlooked film.

For years this film used turn up often on television, but always at around three in the morning on "The Late Late Show." I only saw it for the first time recently on video. To my surprise, this film was an enjoyable light comedy thriller. Lew Ayres is delightful as the actor who teams up with show girl Day to solve a series of axe murders. The scene where Ayres feigns insanity to get into the files at a mental hospital is price-less. Basil Rathbone is in top form as the shady doctor who orchestrates the murders. Its odd that this film being an MGM production with a good cast is almost never mentioned in books on horror films, while minor poverty row horrors from the same period have had gallons of ink written about them.

The film did end with a few loose ends. Why does Rathbone choose an axe as the weapon for his subjects to kill his victims? Also, it is never made clear as to how he is able to control his subjects. Does he use hypnosis? Telepathy?