The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

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Citizen Rules's Avatar
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Noir Time
03-19-24
#71 The Desperate Hours (1955)

Director: William Wyler
Production: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy
46 Points, 2 Lists

'Three escaped convicts move in on and terrorize a suburban household.'

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Last edited by Citizen Rules; 3 weeks ago at 02:46 PM.



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03-19-24


The Letter just snuck onto the MoFo Top 100 of the 1940s at #98.
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03-19-24
Two Wylers, that’s kind of neat. Unfortunately not the Wylers I love.

The Letter is fine but it pales in comparison to Little Foxes for me. I also wouldn’t have considered it for a Noir list. Que the broken record.

Watched Desperate Hours for this list. Super cool concept that felt very neutered to me. This should have been much nastier, to be effective.
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One Ornery Sumbitch
03-19-24
Originally Posted by seanc
Watched Desperate Hours for this list. Super cool concept that felt very neutered to me. This should have been much nastier, to be effective.
Michael Cimino's 1990 remake is nothing but nasty...and no more effective.








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A system of cells interlinked
03-19-24
Back to striking out on today's entries!

2/30 seen
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03-19-24
I've seen and liked The Letter but didn't get around to a needed rewatch so it didn't make my ballot.


I wrote this about: The Desperate Hours So intense and so void of the usual noir trappings that this home invasion film is 20 years ahead of it's time. "Three escaped convicts move in on and terrorize a suburban household."...and it's surprising just how terrorizing they can be. Here Bogart isn't doing Bogart, he's a plain rotten and angry escaped murderer, who's just as likely to shoot the family as he is to let them live. Fine performances all around especially from the great Fredrick March. Director William Wyler keeps it real, keeps it intense, no wonder this one is highly rated.



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03-19-24
One I saw and thought was ok, One I need to see, and a remake of One I want to see.



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Master of None
03-19-24
The Letter was highly mentioned and highly praised during the Film Noir online course I took several years ago. I've been meaning to catch up with it several times, but just haven't for whatever reason. I need to get to it.

I also haven't seen Desperate Hours.


SEEN: 2/30
MY BALLOT: 0/25
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03-19-24
Stats: Pit Stop #3




After hitting our third pit stop (70), here's were we are now:

Yearly Breakdown
  • 1940 = 2
  • 1941 = 0
  • 1942 = 1
  • 1943 = 1
  • 1944 = 2
  • 1945 = 1
  • 1946 = 3
  • 1947 = 4
  • 1948 = 5
  • 1949 = 2
  • 1950 = 4
  • 1951 = 0
  • 1952 = 1
  • 1953 = 1
  • 1954 = 0
  • 1955 = 2
  • 1956 = 0
  • 1957 = 0
  • 1958 = 1
  • 1959 = 0


1948 remains at the top, even though it had no activity in this last batch. But a couple other years did, which means they got closer. 1947 and 1950 in particular are just one film away.


Repeating Directors
  • William Wyler = 2
  • John Cromwell = 2
  • Otto Preminger = 2
  • Robert Rossen = 2
  • Robert Wise = 2

William Wyler jumps into the group instantly with two entries on the same day, joining also John Cromwell and Otto Preminger, both of which had their second entries in this last batch.



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Mu-Tant
03-19-24
(Bart Simpson voice) "I know...of Desperate Hours."

How is the Michael Cimino remake from 1990? I've heard its better than its reviews would suggest.



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03-19-24
I see a pattern of sorts developing. Out of the two mentioned I've usually seen one but haven't watched the other even though I've had innumerable opportunities to do so. This time it was The Letter. I don't know why exactly I decided to repeatedly pass it by. That goes for The Little Foxes too. Maybe it's a Bette Davis thing. Either way it needs to rectified.

But I did check out The Desperate Hours. It did put me in mind of something like Suddenly which I can only assume will be showing up eventually (or maybe even ... ... suddenly).

10 of 30 seen.



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Master of None
03-19-24
Originally Posted by SpelingError
Point Blank was #22 on my ballot.

I didn't realize Branded to Kill was eligible when I made my list, so I didn't include it, but it would've made my top five.
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BANNED FROM VIENNA
03-19-24
I haven't seen either Wyler noir but both have been on my watchlist for what must be at least a decade if not longer. One day I'll watch both!
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03-19-24
Originally Posted by Holden Pike
I read all of Chandler and Hammett about the same time I was digesting my first classic Noirs - age fifteen or sixteen. Chandler is really peerless; his prose is such a treat, with lines like, "She was a blonde. A blonde to make a Bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window." But Hammett and Cain are wonderful, too. I still have my very worn copies of the Modern Library and Everyman's Library collections. Jim Thompson is my favorite from the next generation, I can't get enough if his (several adaptations of which should show up on the Neo Noir list, plus his work with Kubrick high up on this list).

I used to be more of a Chandler guy, but then Hammett might be edging him out for me these days, with The Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest, and The Glass Key just as good as I can imagine hard-boiled noir fiction being. And coincidentally, I've just recently got into Jim Thompson, and I've decided to mostly start with his earliest books, since it's obvious he will quickly become a favorite.
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03-19-24
The Desperate Hours is another solid classic noir I enjoyed watching and placed somewhere in the 50-60 range on my personal list. Haven't seen The Letter.

SEEN 6/30
BALLOT 00/25



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03-19-24
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I've seen and liked The Letter but didn't get around to a needed rewatch so it didn't make my ballot.

I wrote this about: The Desperate Hours So intense and so void of the usual noir trappings that this home invasion film is 20 years ahead of it's time. "Three escaped convicts move in on and terrorize a suburban household."...and it's surprising just how terrorizing they can be. Here Bogart isn't doing Bogart, he's a plain rotten and angry escaped murderer, who's just as likely to shoot the family as he is to let them live. Fine performances all around especially from the great Fredrick March. Director William Wyler keeps it real, keeps it intense, no wonder this one is highly rated.
Of the two, I prefer The Letter. It gets your attention when they show Bette Davis gun down her lover right outta the box.. I thought everyone was good in the picture. It's too bad they had to make some significant plot changes due to the Hays Code.

The Desperate Hours is pretty glum, especially since Bogie had already become a big star, and had just starred in a light version of a benevolent home invasion 3 months earlier: We're No Angels. Bogart characterized his role in The Desperate Hours as "Duke Mantee grown up."..

I don't care for the hostage/kidnap plot any more. It's been done to death. But at the time it was fairly fresh.

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