Detective Story (1951)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Sidney Kingsley (play)
Robert Wyler (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1952 (Denmark)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

The love story of a man whose wife was more woman than angel!

Plot:

On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Infant Death | Marriage | Unwed Pregnancy | Police Brutality

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Det. James 'Jim' McLeod
Eleanor Parker	...	Mary McLeod
William Bendix	...	Det. Lou Brody
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Susan Carmichael
George Macready	...	Karl Schneider
Horace McMahon	...	Lt. Monaghan
Gladys George	...	Miss Hatch
Joseph Wiseman	...	Charley Gennini
Lee Grant	...	Shoplifter
Gerald Mohr	...	Tami Giacoppetti
Frank Faylen	...	Det. Gallagher
Craig Hill	...	Arthur Kindred
Michael Strong	...	Lewis Abbott
Luis Van Rooten	...	Joe Feinson
Bert Freed	...	Det. Dakis

Also Known As:

The Detective Story (Australia) (TV title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | UK:X (original rating) | Norway:16 (1952) | USA:TV-PG | Australia:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #15300)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The play ran on Broadway for 581 performances, from 23 March 1949 through 12 August 1950. It starred Ralph Bellamy as Det. McLeod. Meg Mundy played his wife. Maureen Stapleton played Miss Hatch.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In some of the close-up shots of McLeod and Schneider in the back of the paddy wagon, McLeod's shadow can be faintly seen on the rear-projection screen showing the street behind them. (Other shadows can also be seen.)

Quotes:

Detective James McLeod: At an autopsy the other day I watched the medical examiner saw off the top of a man's skull, take out the brain and hold it in his hand.
[holds out his hand]
Detective James McLeod: Like that.
Mary McLeod: Why are you telling me this?
Detective James McLeod: Because I'd give my soul to take out my brain, hold it under the faucet and wash away the dirty pictures you put there tonight.
Mary McLeod: Dirty pictures?
Detective James McLeod: Yes!
Mary McLeod: Oh, I see. I see. Yes, that would be fine... if we could. But when you wash away what I may have put there, you'll find you've a rotten spot in your brain, Jim. And it's growing. I know, I've watched it.

Movie Connections:

References The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

It's intense at the 21st Precinct.

An assortment of detectives and an assortment of criminals, all gathered together under the oppressive 21st Precint roof. It's a day that nobody present will ever forget, for better or worse......

Directed by William Wyler {Best years Of Our Lives, Ben-Hur & Wuthering Heights} and starring Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell and Joseph Wiseman.

Detective Story is based on the smash hit Broadway play by Sidney Kingsley, adapted by Phillip Yordan and Robert Wyler, it's with much relief to me that the worry of it being a stagy production never actually materialises. Practically set on one bleak, but quite excellently appropriate set {creation courtesy of Hal Pereira & Earl Hedrick}, Detective Story manages to rise above its very simple plot by boasting interesting characters in a pot boiling story just waiting to peak. Each character has much to offer the film, be it oddly quirky or overtly intense, within the confines of this particular precinct, the characters create engrossing drama.

It's a difficult film to sell without giving too much away, by outlaying the character persona's and mental fortitude's, i personally feel that it will dull the impact of this influential crime genre piece. It's got real raw emotive acting, particularly from Kirk Douglas as Jim McLeod and Eleanor Parker as his wife Mary, while its technical aspects {watch Lee Garmes' camera glide like a third party witness} are impressively high. And with it embracing as it does, morality themes, it also doesn't lack for interest to the cranial head scratching crowd, it's by definition to me an all encompassing picture, one that is now sure to be a perennial viewing in my home. It's not a standard fare crime picture, and it most definitely is a talky film, but it works incredibly well, so one can only hope that many others will feel the same as me, namely that it is a fine and essential genre piece. 8/10