A Cry in the Night

'Cry In The Night' was on TCM last night and is more of a social drama than a film noir. Even worse, it's about a hostage situation and seems much longer than its 75 minute running time as there is very little action.

The cast was overripe but good, with Brian Donlevy and Edmond O'Brien as the cops on the case and Natalie Wood as the hostage. Raymond Burr plays the kidnapper very much like Lenny from "Of Mice and Men". Burr is really the main character and departs from his usual menacing heavy role here and plays an emotionally arrested momma's boy. Donlevy and O"Brien are reliable old warhorses and manage to pull off their parts despite advancing age. Much time was spent in arguments and squabbles among the various cast members and I felt less time should have been spent on scenes illustrating what a disturbed guy Burr's character was, as we knew that.

Long story short, I can't really recommend 'Cry In The Night'; I didn't feel it was interesting enough for any more than a rating of a five.