The Night Holds Terror **** (1955, Jack Kelly, Hildy Parks, Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes, David Cross) – Classic Movie Review 10,796

‘Three young, empty-eyed killers, without mercy or morals, turn a private home into a house of horror!’

Writer-producer-director Andrew L Stone’s suspenseful 1955 black and white film noir crime drama The Night Holds Terror is the February 1953 true-life hostage story of three violent escaped convict hoodlums (Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes, David Cross) who, seeking to evade the police manhunt, take over an American suburban home and hold a terrified family (Jack Kelly and Hildy Parks as Gene and Doris Courtier) to ransom at gunpoint.

It all starts with a The Hitch-Hiker (1953) situation when family man Gene Courtier (Jack Kelly) makes the mistake of picking up wanted criminal hitchhiker Victor Gosset (Vince Edwards) and then it leads on to a home invasion The Desperate Hours (1955) situation when Gosset and his accomplices Robert Batsford (John Cassavetes) and Luther Logan (David Cross) take Courtier and his family captive in their home at gunpoint, demanding ransom money.

The Night Holds Terror is a surprisingly intense drama which now appears ahead of its time in its sparseness and attention to detail. Stone packs it with mounting tension, menace and doom, making a mostly static drama cinematic, and making the most of his set pieces, with the help of Fred Jackman Jr’s cinematography.

It is rare to find such flawless acting from an entire cast, though the young John Cassavetes demands a special mention for his role as one of the hoodlums, Robert Batsford, the slimy mastermind leader of the criminals.

The film’s small demerits perhaps are the Narrator, some back projections and some unconvincing action, all things of their time.

The cast are: Jack Kelly as Gene Courtier, Hildy Parks as Doris Courtier, Vince Edwards as Victor Gosset, John Cassavetes as Robert Batsford, David Cross as Luther Logan, Edward Marr as Captain Cole, Jack Kruschen as Detective Pope, Jonathan Hale as Bob Henderson, Joel Marston as Reporter, Joyce McCluskey as Phyllis Harrison, Barney Phillips as Stranske, Roy Neal as TV Newsreader, and Guy Kingsford as Police Technician, with Stanley Andrews as Mr Courtier (uncredited), Charles Herbert as Steven Courtier (uncredited), Nancy Zane as Deborah Courtier (uncredited), Barbara Woodell as Mrs Osmond (uncredited) and William Woodson as the Narrator (uncredited).

The real Mr and Mrs Courtier were given $500 for the use of their names in the film and the couple made radio and TV appearances to promote the film.

Quentin Tarantino selected it for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas, 1996.

Andrew Stone later directed and wrote another family hostage film: Cry Terror!.

After five years of TV, it is the feature film debut of Hildy Parks, but then all of the actors were relatively unknown at the time.

The town scenes were shot at Lancaster, California, the scenes in the desert at Antelope Valley, California, and the LA scenes in Los Angeles.

The Night Holds Terror is directed by Andrew L Stone, runs 86 minutes, is made by Andrew L Stone Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Andrew L Stone, is shot in black and white by Fred Jackman Jr, is produced by Andrew L Stone and is scored by Lucien Cailliet.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,796

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Looking into the barrel of a gun from the trailer.