Fourteen Hours

"A new element in screen suspense"

1951 1h 32m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 53

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of a building with the intention of committing suicide. A policeman makes every effort to argue him out of it.

“A new element in screen suspense”

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Cast

Paul Douglas
Police Ofcr. Charlie Dunnigan
Richard Basehart
Robert Cosick
Barbara Bel Geddes
Virginia Foster
Debra Paget
Ruth
Agnes Moorehead
Christine Hill Cosick
Robert Keith
Paul E. Cosick
Howard Da Silva
Deputy Police Chief Moskar
Jeffrey Hunter
Danny Klempner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Henry Hathaway
Writers: Joel Sayre, John Paxton
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Henry Hathaway, shot by Joseph MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Paul Douglas and Richard Basehart and Barbara Bel Geddes carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A new element in screen suspense".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0043560 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 53 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Henry Hathaway directs. Joseph MacDonald behind the camera. Alfred Newman scores. Dorothy Spencer cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

175 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Henry Hathaway, shot by Joseph MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Paul Douglas and Richard Basehart and Barbara Bel Geddes carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "A new element in screen suspense".
7IMDB entry: tt0043560 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 53 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "new york city", "suicide", "police", "dysfunctional family".

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Original score: Alfred Newman
Editing: Dorothy Spencer
Costume design: Edward Stevenson
Makeup / hair: Ben Nye
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Fourteen Hours (1951)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Henry Hathaway

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-05
★ 7/10
When some lady lets out an almighty yell, local traffic cop "Dunnigan" (Paul Douglas) looks up and espies a gent standing on a window ledge of an hotel some fifteen stories up. He races up to the man's room and what ensues for the next ninety-odd minutes sees him trying to understand just why the young "Robert" (Richard Basehart) is about to take a tumble. Needless to say, both men are nervous, but the cop decides that he has to work on establishing trust and that's the anchor we need too as his mother (Agnes Moorehead), father (Robert Keith) and ex-fiancée (Barbara Bel Geddes) all turn up and add their tuppence worth to the man's predicament - and they are not always helpful. Indeed, as we learn more about this man and his completely dysfunctional family, we learn quite a bit about the causes for his apparently low self esteem. On the ground, the city is fascinated by this and we are also introduced to those watching. A group of taxi drivers caught up in the snarled streets, The young "Danny" (Jeffery Hunter) who might just have found some romance, and we've also a few scenes with Grace Kelly too - though she seems to leave her accent behind from time to time. Basehart and Douglas establish quite a compelling rapport as the film develops, and Henry Hathaway uses the sub-plots quite effectively to give us a break from the intensity of the story without disturbing the thrust of the thing. There is one scene with an interfering, imbecilic, man of God (George MacQuarrie) that almost had me shouting at the screen and by the end, we are simply unsure of the outcome. It's neatly confined, tense and well worth a look.

Production companies