XhcnoirX Struggling writer Dan Duryea lives in a remote mountain house with wife Jean Wallace and son David Stollery. Then Duryea's brother and bank robber Cornel Wilde arrives with his accomplices Steven Hill and Lee Grant. Wilde's been shot in the leg during a robbery but after Wallace removes the bullet the robbers can't move on, because of a fierce snow storm. Stollery's never seen his uncle and is fascinated by Wilde, who's the complete opposite of the sickly and weak Duryea. But Wallace and Wilde used to be lovers, with their past becoming an additional source of friction and tension in the cramped house.A claustrophobic home-invasion thriller meets love-triangle melodrama, actor/director/producer Cornel Wilde ('The Big Combo') does a good job of keeping this movie, which is rather talky, tense and gripping. And he also gets good performances from most of the actors, including himself. Especially Wilde's real life wife Wallace ('The Big Combo') gives a great performance, as a woman struggling with several dilemmas that come to a head when Wilde forces himself back into her life. I also really enjoyed Grant's ('Detective Story') performance, who was blacklisted at the time. She reminded me of the streetwise and tough but sympathetic gunmolls from the 30s gangster movies, particularly Gladys George in 'The Roaring Twenties'. I kinda wanted to see more of her part in this movie. And while kid actors are 9 out of 10 times either wooden or annoying, Stollery is pretty convincing and even subtle. He gave up acting however and became a successful car designer. Noir icon Duryea ('Scarlet Street') plays against type and he does well as always but he doesn't have a lot to do besides cough and moan, which is a shame. Hill (TV's 'Law & Order') is the only dissonant, he's uneven and seems unsure how to play his part.Wilde keeps the movie focused and never lets the narrative wander off too far. Once the dramatic moments inside the house have been exhausted, he moves the story outdoors, with Stollery guiding Wilde and his crew across a mountain, pursued by Dennis Weaver (TV's 'McCloud'). Oddly enough tho, while Weaver has no problem following their tracks, he doesn't seem to notice one of crew members who's been left behind halfway with a broken ankle. What also helps is that DoP Joseph La Shelle ('Laura') does a great job with both the indoor and outdoor scenes, his lensing is both effective and nice to look at, but also not too prominent to take over the movie. Having said all that tho, I am not sure this movie has a lot of rewatch value. The story is not very surprising and moves to a predictable climax (altho the final moments are rather touching, thanks to some pretty good acting), and I feel that by focusing primarily on himself and Wallace's past, Wilde left out some opportunities to really crank up the heat. Still, I can recommend it.

moggy-4 ...and appreciate them; when drama and acting were more important than special effects. cornel wilde was an underrated director, and gives an impressive performance . It's really an ordinary film, made almost hypnotically watchable by excellent acting, filming and direction. the actor playing the boy is totally believable. and I can't resist noting that I recognized dennis weaver without knowing he was in it.

David Hoffman Storm Fear is a contrast of brothers, both of whom have failed in life. Cornel Wilde plays the `bad' brother, fleeing from a bank robbery. Dan Duryea is the `good' brother who can't come to grips with his own artistic and personal failures. I do not like Cornel Wilde, yet I found he created a sympathetic, very human `good-for-nothing', a surprisingly less intelligent role for a lead actor to play. Duryea, on the other hand, is much less sympathetic, perhaps because he is reaching for stars that are obviously out of his grasp. Jean Wallace is quite good as Duryea's wife and Wilde's former lover. She effectively straddles the worlds of both men. Steven Hill portrays the unstable member of Wilde's gang, but he doesn't seem quite sure how far to take his character at times.This should have been more claustrophobic with 6 people cooped up in a house in a snow storm, but the script handles this nicely. The film gives the appearance of being an inexpensive production; yet, it makes the most of what is there in set, actors, etc. Wilde does a credible job of directing. Elmer Bernstein's score is a plus. The ending, however, is totally unsatisfactory, obviously bowing to conventions of the mid 50s when uncompromising films were not the norm.

helpless_dancer A husband and wife plus their son are visited by the husband's brother and his gang after the thugs pull off a bank heist. The meeting stirs up a lot of trouble, and dredges up old memories and desires. Great dramatic finale as the thieves try to escape over the mountain.