DKosty123 This 73 minute film is obviously meant by RKO to be the short part of theater double features. Because of this, it is not a big budget film. Yet it has some top talents involved in the cast. Bobby Driscoll, on loan from Disney, is a big name child actor here who witnesses a murder and nobody will believe him. The Cornell Woolrich script based on his story: "The Boy Cried Murder" will later be remade under that title but this RKO version is better. A few years later Woolrich would write an even better script - Rear Window - for Alfred Hitchcock. Besides Driscoll who did Disney's Peter Pan, and Song of the South, Barbara Hale, still in her late 20's plays Mrs. Mary Woodry, who is very involved in the plot. Later she was Della Street, secretary to Perry Mason.The is a lot of Noir flavor to this one as there are a lot of things that come out later in the film. The excitement and thrills of the film hook the viewer very well for the short length (73 minutes) of the film. Worthwhile viewing on all levels.

salesdavew I just happened to run across this Gem when I saw my neighbor watching it as I peeked out my tenement rear window. We certainly have a, to say the least, nod to Rear Window, and our young protagonist is no Jimmy Stewart. But this is a real good nail biter. I ran out of fingernails and had to get into downward facing dog to gnaw on my toenails. There's just something about a helpless kid, maybe he's cried wolf in the past, being in adult danger that raises the goose flesh. And even the black and white adds to making this work well. It just feels like post war New York. All in all The Window is another example of why I love Turner Classic Films.

dleifker Part of the appeal of the film noir genre has always been its ability to freeze everyday life from the past and redisplay it faithfully to viewers many decades later. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy the genre so much, and "The Window" does its job better that most. If you want to step into a time machine and see what real life was like in New York City in the 1940s, this is the movie to see. I saw it at a local film noir film festival, and I hope it comes out on DVD.It's a bit jarring to see Della Street as a gritty Manhattan housewife with a coarse blue-collar husband, but it's also a lot of fun and she looks terrific. Barbara Hale is still alive as I write this, amazingly, and will turn 91 in a few weeks. At the film festival, this film was introduced by someone who had telephoned Barbara Hale and asked her for her memories of making this movie. She said the movie was supposed to take place in the summer, so the actors dressed very lightly, but it was really filmed in a much colder time of year and she remembers freezing as they shot scene after scene. Could have fooled me, the movie comes across as summery and hot with lots of sweat.Every detail fascinated me, especially of apartment life in the 1940s: tiny rooms, closet-sized bathrooms with dwarf sinks, and kitchens that looked like airplane galleys. Dark and sinister stairwells up to dingy apartments, fire escapes and alleys, cigarettes galore, and black telephones like my grandmother used to have. Every scene is richly textured, almost as if the director knew that audiences of the distant future would be watching his movie and be mesmerized by the detailed scenery, from the local police station to the pay phone at the corner drugstore.Others have reviewed the plot and I have nothing much to add. But I will emphasize that the plot develops along paths that I would never have predicted, and the ending will rivet you to your seat. The conclusion was deeply satisfying and caused the audience to burst into whistles and applause. Hope this movie comes out on DVD quick... it's a treasure.

offylover I cannot understand how the upstairs neighbors could step on the boy's pillow (going up to roof and coming down) without noticing it and realizing someone was probably there when they committed the murder.Also, it was strange that boy's dad did not see the boy's runaway note at all, but the neighbor seemed to see it right away.All the actors seemed well-suited to their roles.If Bobby did all the stairway climbing himself (likely) he did it very well and with speed appropriate to the timing of the plot.Arthur Kennedy got many good roles over the years, but unfortunately never a signature role that could have propelled him to the top of his profession.