Movie |
Two-hander | Psychopath
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This story was later re-done in 1960 as Startime: The Man (1960) (the name of the 1950 Mel Dinelli play the movie was based on). It starred Thelma Ritter and Audie Murphy.
The head of RKO Pictures, Howard Hughes, held the film from release for a year. Robert Ryan felt Hughes, known for his right-wing politics, tried to bury the film because Ryan was publicly active in left-wing politics.
According to an article in the 11/15/50 edition of "The Hollywood Reporter", Farley Granger was to co-star with Ida Lupino. In the opinion of Eddie Muller on TCM's "Noir Alley", Lupino had dynamic chemistry with co-star Robert Ryan in the prior year's On Dangerous Ground (1951) and she likely considered no-one else.
The photo of Mrs. Gordon's (Ida Lupino) deceased husband is actually William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason (1957).
This story was originally broadcast on the CBS radio show Suspense as "To Find Help" on 18 January 1945 with Frank Sinatra as Howard and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Gillis (Mrs. Gordon in the film). This was Sinatra's dramatic debut on radio. It was successful enough to get a second production in 1949 with Gene Kelly, Ethel Barrymore, and William Conrad.
"Howard Wilton: [after Ruth has deliberately sprinkled debris on the floor he's just been cleaning, on his hands and knees] You think I'm funny? Ruth Williams: Not particularly. Howard Wilton: I don't like being laughed at. Ruth Williams: Well, aren't *you* the bundle of nerves! Listen, you. I don't see many men around polishing floors. It's a woman's job. Who do you think you are? Seems to me there's better ways for a *man* to make a living."
"Howard Wilton: Mrs. Gordon... Mrs. Helen Gordon: Yes? Howard Wilton: Have I done anything to hurt you? Mrs. Helen Gordon: No. Of course you haven't. Howard Wilton: I'm glad. Because I wouldn't want to hurt you. But I might, you know. Mrs. Helen Gordon: I don't believe that. You're just not feeling well, that's all. Howard Wilton: [haltingly] You don't know what it means... like I do... to find myself in the... middle of a room... the middle of a busy street... or in some house I'm working in. A thing like that happens, I wonder where I am... what I'm doing. And sometimes I'm... I'm looking down at someone... somebody that's been hurt. And they've been hurt very badly. And I wonder if *I've* done it, if what I'm looking at is real or, it's only in my mind. Then I begin to run. I hide. But I don't know what I'm hiding from. It's bad enough to hide, but... not to know what you're hiding from. There are days when I pick up a newspaper, and I see that somebody's been murdered. And I ask myself... could I have been there at that time? Could I have done this thing? Where was I yesterday? What causes these blank spaces? What causes them? Mrs. Helen Gordon: [frightened] I don't know... I don't know... I don't know. Perhaps if we get a doctor... [makes a run for the door to get away]"
