The Window

The Window is a 1949 American black-and-white film noir, based on the short story "The Boy Cried Murder" (reprinted as "Fire Escape") by Cornell Woolrich, about a lying boy who witnesses a killing but is not believed. The film, a critical success that was shot on location in New York City, was produced by Frederic Ullman Jr. for $210,000 but earned much more, making it a box-office hit for RKO Pictures. The film was directed by Ted Tetzlaff, who worked as a cinematographer on over 100 films, including another successful suspense film, Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946). For his performances in this film and in So Dear to My Heart, Bobby Driscoll was presented with a miniature Oscar statuette as the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949 at the 1950 Academy Awards ceremony. Plot In the late 1940s, in New York's Lower East Side, lives young Tommy Woodry, who has a habit of crying wolf. Late one night, he climbs up the building fire escape and sees his two seemingly normal neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Kellerson, murder a drunken sailor in their apartment. No one – neither the boy's parents nor the police – believes Tommy when he tells them what he has seen, since they all assume that this is just another of the boy's tall tales. When Mrs. Woodry takes Tommy to apologize to the Kellersons, he refuses, and they become suspicious of him. When Mrs. Woodry leaves to care for a sick relative, and Mr. Woodry is away at his night job, the murderous neighbors plan to kill Tommy, who has been locked in his room by his father to prevent other escapades. Under the pretense of going to the police, the Kellersons take Tommy to a dark alley, where they try to kill him. Tommy escapes, but the pair quickly recaptures him, taking him to their apartment in a taxi. Tommy screams at a policeman for help, but the officer remembers Tommy as the boy who came to the station earlier and failed to convince the police. The Kellersons fool the cab driver by posing as Tommy's parents. Returning home from work early, Mr. Woodry discovers Tommy missing and asks a neighborhood police officer for help. The officer uses a police box to request a radio car. Meanwhile, the Kellersons have Tommy secured in their apartment. Tommy escapes and climbs onto the roof, and he is pursued by Mr. Kellerson to a nearby building that is in the process of being demolished. The police officer suggests that Tommy went to see his mother, and he and Mr. Woodry leave the tenement.