Fourteen Hours | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Hathaway |
Screenplay by | John Paxton |
Based on | The Man on the Ledge 1949 short story by Joel Sayre |
Produced by | Sol C. Siegel |
Starring | Paul Douglas Richard Basehart Barbara Bel Geddes Debra Paget Agnes Moorehead Robert Keith |
Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
Edited by | Dorothy Spencer |
Music by | Alfred Newman |
Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Fourteen Hours is a 1951 American drama directed by Henry Hathaway, which tells the story of a New York City police officer trying to stop a despondent man from jumping to his death from the 15th floor of a hotel.
The film won critical acclaim for Richard Basehart, who portrayed the mentally disturbed man on the building ledge. Paul Douglas played the police officer, and a large supporting cast included Barbara Bel Geddes, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Keith, Debra Paget, and Howard Da Silva. It was the screen debut of Grace Kelly and Jeffrey Hunter, who appeared in small roles.[1]
The screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on an article by Joel Sayre in The New Yorker describing the 1938 suicide of John William Warde.
Early one morning, a room-service waiter at a New York City hotel is horrified to discover that the young man to whom he has just delivered breakfast is standing on the narrow ledge outside his room on the 15th floor. Charlie Dunnigan, a policeman on traffic duty in the street below, tries to talk him off the ledge to no avail. He is ordered back to traffic patrol by NYPD emergency services deputy chief Moksar, but he is ordered to return when the man on the ledge will not speak to psychiatrists summoned to the scene. Coached by a psychiatrist, Dunnigan tries to relate to the man on the ledge as one human to another.
The police identify the man as Robert Cosick and locate his mother, but her overwrought, hysterical behavior only upsets Cosick and seems to drive him toward jumping. His father, whom he despises, arrives. The divorced father and mother clash over old family issues, and the conflict is played out in front of the police. Dunnigan seeks to reconcile Robert with his father, whom Cosick has been brought up to hate by his mother. Dunnigan forces Mrs. Cosick to reveal the identity of a "Virginia" mentioned by Robert, and she turns out to be his estranged fiancée.
While this is happening, a crowd is gathering below. Cab drivers are wagering on when he will jump. A young stock-room clerk named Danny is wooing a fellow office worker, Ruth, whom he meets by chance on the street. A woman is seen at a nearby law office, where she is about to sign the final papers for her divorce. Amid legal formalities, she watches the drama unfold. Moved by the tragic events, she decides to reconcile with her husband.
After a while, Dunnigan convinces Cosick everyone will leave the hotel room so that he can rest. As Cosick steps in, a crazy evangelist sneaks into the room and Cosick goes back to the ledge. This damages his trust in Dunnigan, as does an effort by police to drop down from the roof and grab him. As night falls, Virginia is brought to the room, and she pleads with Robert to come off the ledge, to no avail. All the while, the police, under the command of Moksar, are working to grab Robert and put a net below him.
Dunnigan seems to make a connection with Cosick when he talks about the good things in life, and he promises to take Cosick fishing for "floppers" on Sheepshead Bay. Cosick is about to come inside when a boy on the street accidentally turns on a spotlight that blinds Robert, and he falls from the ledge. He manages to grab a net that the police had stealthily put below him, and he is hauled into the hotel. Dunnigan is greeted by his wife and son, and Danny and Ruth walk the street hand in hand.[2]
Although the onscreen credits contain a statement saying that the film and characters depicted were "entirely fictional", the movie was based on the suicide of John William Warde, a 26-year-old man who jumped from the 17th floor of the Gotham Hotel in New York City on Tuesday, July 26, 1938, after 14 hours on a ledge. The character of Charlie Dunnigan was based on Charles V. Glasco, a New York City policeman who tried to convince Warde to come off the ledge.[1][3][4] In the film, however, various details about Officer Glasco's life were fictionalized.
Pretending to be a bellhop at the hotel, Glasco entered room 1714 and tried to persuade Warde that he would be fired as a bellboy if Warde did not come off the ledge. Glasco spoke with Warde on and off for 14 hours. Warde, who had made previous suicide attempts, also heard pleas from his sister. Glasco had convinced Warde to come back into the hotel, but a photographer attempting to photograph Warde scared him as he was re-entering the hotel. As a result, Warde then jumped off of the ledge at 10:38 p.m. Police had tried to rig a net below him, but the net could not be extended sufficiently from the hotel to block his fall. During his 14 hours on the ledge, traffic was stopped for blocks around the hotel, which was located on 55th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and thousands watched the drama unfold.[3][5]
Writer Joel Sayre wrote about the Warde suicide in The New Yorker, in an article entitled "That Was New York: The Man on the Ledge", which was published on April 16, 1949. The story was purchased by Twentieth Century Fox in April 1949 and the studio assigned Sol C. Siegel to produce.[6][7]
In August 1949, Fox said that the team of James Gow and Arnaud D'asseu, who had written the Broadway hit Tomorrow the World, would write the script.[8] In January 1950, Fox assigned screenwriter John Paxton to write the script.[9] Paxton completely fictionalised the story.[4] He decided not to use flashbacks to explain why the lead character was up on the ledge. Richard Basehart, who eventually starred, said "Paxton decided against this easy explanation of action and treated his central character as a pebble thrown into a pool of water. Without losing sight of the pebble he concentrated on ripples it raised and wrote the dramatic vignettes and one act plays around the people they washed over."[10]
Twentieth Century Fox changed the title from The Man on the Ledge to Fourteen Hours at the request of Warde's mother, so the picture would not be as closely identified with her son. The title was changed in April 1950.[11]
Studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck considered changing the setting of the movie to another city for the same reason. But it was ultimately filmed in New York.[1]
Howard Hawks refused to direct this movie because of its subject matter.[12][13] He was only interested in doing it if it could be turned into a Cary Grant comedy but Fox refused.[14]
Henry Hathaway, a director noted for his realistic films The House on 92nd Street (1945), Kiss of Death (1947), and Call Northside 777 (1948), was assigned to the project in April 1950.[15]