Fourteen Hours (1951)

"Well-made suspense drama...  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide

Editor's Note A lesser-known gem from 1951, FOURTEEN HOURS stars a young Richard Basehart as Robert, a malcontent who decides to end it all by jumping from the ledge of a skyscraper. Officer Charlie Dunnigan (Paul Douglas) happens by and notices him, and spends the next 14 hours rising to the difficult task of convincing Robert not to throw his life away. Meanwhile, in an adjacent building, a young woman (Grace Kelly in her first role) reconsiders her divorce, and two people in the street below (Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget) meet and discover a common bond. Barbara Bel Geddes (VERTIGO) plays the potential suicide's girlfriend, and Ossie Davis (SHE HATE ME, THE L WORD) and Brian Keith (THE PARENT TRAP) also appear.

	Barbara Bel Geddes
	Debra Paget
	Paul Douglas
	Richard Basehart
	Alfred Newman - Original Music By
	Dorothy Spencer - Editor
	Henry Hathaway - Director
	John Paxton - Writer
	Joseph MacDonald - Cinematographer
	Sol C. Siegel - Producer

Goatdog's Movies 9 of 10
The film's finest moments come at the very beginning. New York City is just waking up; street sweepers clean out the gutters, and a traffic cop notes down the license numbers of illegally parked cars. A hotel waiter brings room service up to a room, in which a nervous-looking man seems startled by him. The waiter places his tray down on the table, and when he turns around, the guest has disappeared - out onto the ledge, it turns out. There's no dialogue; the only sounds are those of the city, until a scream from a woman across the street breaks the silence. - Michael W. Phillips, Jr.