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Cause for Alarm! (film)
Encyclopedia
Cause for Alarm! is a film noir
suspense film directed by Tay Garnett
(The Postman Always Rings Twice), written by Mel Dinelli and Tom Lewis, based on a story by Larry Marcus. Ellen (Loretta Young
) narrates the tale of "the most terrifying day of my life", how she was taking care of her bedridden husband George Z. Jones (Barry Sullivan
) when he suddenly dropped dead.
A flashback shows how Ellen met George in a naval hospital during World War II while she was dating his friend, Lieutenant Ranney Grahame (Bruce Cowling
), a young military doctor whose busy schedule left little time for her. George was a pilot and Ellen swiftly fell in love with him, although the flashback strongly hints he had some capacity for arrogance and selfishness. Nevertheless, they soon married and after the war wound up in a leafy suburban Los Angeles neighbourhood.
Unhappily, George is now confined to his bed with heart problems, there is a heat wave and Ellen is spending most her time caring for him. George's doctor is their old friend Ranney, with whom George thinks his wife is having an affair. In response, Ranney suggests George may need psychological help. After Ellen tells her bedridden husband she dreams of having children, he becomes angry. Meanwhile George has written a letter to the district attorney in which he claims his wife and best friend are killing him with overdoses of medicine for his heart.
A little neighbour boy dressed as a movie cowboy and warding cap pistols (Bradley Mora) befriends the childless Ellen, who gives him cookies. He hands her a toy (fake) television set and asks Ellen to give it to George, which she does whilst serving her husband lunch in bed. He tells her an unsettling story about how as a child he had beaten a neighbour boy with a rake until he drew blood. Thinking the thick letter has something to do with insurance, Ellen gives it to the postman (Irving Bacon
), who sees George in the upstairs bedroom window. When Ellen rushes up to find out why he has gotten out of bed, George lets her know what the letter says and who it is addressed to. George pulls a gun and is about to kill her when he drops dead on the bed. In her narration she describes George's death as "one of those awful dreams."
Ellen panics over the letter and as noted by a reviewer over 50 years later, throughout the film's second half seems "much more concerned with absolving herself from the blame of his death than missing her spouse." Running from the house and shown the way by two teenagers in the film's brief reference to Los Angeles' mid-twentieth century jalopy
culture, she chases down the overly talkative postman to whom she gave the letter but he won't give it back to her without talking to George first, since he wrote it. However, the postman says she can ask the supervisor at the downtown post office, who has more authority. Ellen is frantic when she gets back to the house, only to find George's Aunt Clara (Margalo Gillmore
) climbing the stairs to see him and stops her barely in time. After the two talk for a while, Clara again heads up the stairs but Ellen stops her once more, saying George told her earlier not to let his aunt see him. Clara leaves in a huff, telling her George was "rude, mean and selfish since he's been six... he's worse if anything."
Ellen goes back up to the bedroom to change her clothes and sees the gun still in George's hand, narrating, "Somehow I knew I shouldn't leave it there." As she wrenches the pistol from his hand, it fires. Readying herself to leave the house, a polite but somewhat aggressive notary (Don Haggerty
) rings the doorbell, telling her he has an appointment with George to go over some legal documents. She steadfastly says George is too sick to see anyone. Ellen desperately drives downtown to the post office to see the supervisor, who is friendly and gives her a form for George to sign but then, nettled by Ellen's unhinged and uncooperative behaviour, tells her he is going to allow the letter to be delivered. Defeated, she returns to the house and as she gets to the front door, a kindly neighbour woman (Georgia Backus
) offers to help Ellen, since she has seemed so upset all day.
When Ranney shows up to check on George, Ellen has become hysterical. Ranney tells her to be calm and goes up to the bedroom. Showing no apparent emotion for his dead best friend, he sees the bullet hole in the floor, finds the gun in a dresser drawer, methodically repositions George's body in the bed and draws down the window shade. Back downstairs with Ellen, Ranney listens as she tells him what happened, saying "I did everything wrong, just like he said I would." The doorbell rings. She thinks the police have come to arrest her but Ranney urges Ellen to open the door. When she does, it is the postman, returning the letter for insufficient postage. Ranney shows a sigh of relief, Ellen takes back the envelope and is overcome after closing the door. Ranney wordlessly rips the letter into narrow strips and burns these shreds in an ashtray along with a matchbook bearing the embossed names George and Ellen. The film ends with an underlying and unanswered question as to whether Ellen has been an unreliable narrator
.
thoroughly prepared both cast and crew and the film was shot in 14 days, a rather tight schedule for the era (Young reportedly used the same pre-production technique for her TV series a few years later). Some of the production involved location shooting on residential side streets near Wilshire Boulevard
in Los Angeles. André Previn
wrote the score.
Cause for Alarm! is among a few 1950s era MGM films which apparently lapsed into the public domain
after their copyrights were not renewed in the 1970s. As with all PD MGM feature-length films produced by the studio itself (and possibly a few they merely distributed), the original film elements are now owned by Turner Entertainment
, with distribution rights handled by Warner Bros.
(who spoofed the title in one of their 1954 short subject cartoons, Claws for Alarm
).
for the lead role before giving it to his wife Loretta Young. Irving Bacon
(a character actor who appeared in over 400 films during his career) was already widely known as the weary postman in the popular Blondie
series of 28 films a decade earlier when he was cast as the postman chased by Ellen. Bradley Mora
was a noted child actor on Broadway and had appeared in the 1950 filmed version of Annie Get Your Gun
. Margalo Gillmore
's successful acting career on Broadway stretched back to the late teens and Georgia Backus
(the kindly neighbour gardening next door) had a small role in Orson Welles
' Citizen Kane
ten years before. Richard Anderson
went on to a long and successful career as a supporting actor on US television.
When the film was released in 1951, New York Times
film critic Bosley Crowther
, wrote, "Here a simple situation is turned into a thoroughly chilling business by highlighting the most humdrum staples of the everyday American scene... Cause for Alarm proves more than anything else that superior writing, directing and acting- and some imagination- can make a little go a long way... The suspense, under Director Tay Garnett, mounts steadily, almost unbearably, until a final plot twist so original that it's almost a swindle."
Although Crowther criticized the casting of "newcomer" Bruce Cowling
as Ranney, calling his performance "wooden", he had only praise for Young, writing "...she does splendidly as the desperate housewife, avoiding all the pitfalls, even in her hysterical breakdown at the end."
Time magazine characterized the film "as the year's first thriller with an honest quota of thrills. It pulls off the old Hitchcock
trick of giving commonplace people, events and settings a sinister meaning, and it develops its simple, one-track idea with frightening logic." Time's review also noted the strong supporting performances of Margalo Gillmore
and Irving Bacon
along with the film's "quiet, sunny atmosphere of a pleasant residential street" in Los Angeles.
However, in later decades the film was widely ignored (falling into the public domain
) and the few retrospective reviews were less flattering.
François Truffaut
's short overview of Cause for Alarm! was kinder than many when he wrote, "But all those effects hit home, perfectly timed, and isn't that what counts?" 21st century reviews have tended towards Truffaut's take along with citing the film's suburban noir setting. Rotten Tomatoes notes, "Taut pacing, fine performances, and a great plot make this a classic thriller."
Allmovie also cites the performances of Gillmore and Bacon, along with describing the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg
and score by André Previn
as "huge pluses." Sean Axmaker calls Cause for Alarm "An unusual entry into the film noir school of paranoia" which "...trades the dark alleys and long shadows of urban menace for the sunny, tree-lined streets of middle-class domesticity" whilst noting, "Young's deadened narration adds an eerie mood of doom to the suburban setting."
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
suspense film directed by Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett was an American film director and writer.Born in Los Angeles, California, Garnett served as a naval aviator in World War I and entered films as a screenwriter in 1920. He was a gagwriter for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, then joined Pathé and began to direct films in 1928...
(The Postman Always Rings Twice), written by Mel Dinelli and Tom Lewis, based on a story by Larry Marcus. Ellen (Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
) narrates the tale of "the most terrifying day of my life", how she was taking care of her bedridden husband George Z. Jones (Barry Sullivan
Barry Sullivan (actor)
Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
) when he suddenly dropped dead.
Plot
Bruce Cowling
Bruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
), a young military doctor whose busy schedule left little time for her. George was a pilot and Ellen swiftly fell in love with him, although the flashback strongly hints he had some capacity for arrogance and selfishness. Nevertheless, they soon married and after the war wound up in a leafy suburban Los Angeles neighbourhood.
Unhappily, George is now confined to his bed with heart problems, there is a heat wave and Ellen is spending most her time caring for him. George's doctor is their old friend Ranney, with whom George thinks his wife is having an affair. In response, Ranney suggests George may need psychological help. After Ellen tells her bedridden husband she dreams of having children, he becomes angry. Meanwhile George has written a letter to the district attorney in which he claims his wife and best friend are killing him with overdoses of medicine for his heart.
A little neighbour boy dressed as a movie cowboy and warding cap pistols (Bradley Mora) befriends the childless Ellen, who gives him cookies. He hands her a toy (fake) television set and asks Ellen to give it to George, which she does whilst serving her husband lunch in bed. He tells her an unsettling story about how as a child he had beaten a neighbour boy with a rake until he drew blood. Thinking the thick letter has something to do with insurance, Ellen gives it to the postman (Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in over 400 films. He played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by his namesake Lloyd Bacon such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...
), who sees George in the upstairs bedroom window. When Ellen rushes up to find out why he has gotten out of bed, George lets her know what the letter says and who it is addressed to. George pulls a gun and is about to kill her when he drops dead on the bed. In her narration she describes George's death as "one of those awful dreams."
Ellen panics over the letter and as noted by a reviewer over 50 years later, throughout the film's second half seems "much more concerned with absolving herself from the blame of his death than missing her spouse." Running from the house and shown the way by two teenagers in the film's brief reference to Los Angeles' mid-twentieth century jalopy
Rat rod
A rat rod is a style of hot rod or custom car that, in most cases, imitates the early hot rods of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It is not to be confused with the somewhat closely related "traditional" hot rod, which is an accurate re-creation or period-correct restoration of a hot rod from the same...
culture, she chases down the overly talkative postman to whom she gave the letter but he won't give it back to her without talking to George first, since he wrote it. However, the postman says she can ask the supervisor at the downtown post office, who has more authority. Ellen is frantic when she gets back to the house, only to find George's Aunt Clara (Margalo Gillmore
Margalo Gillmore
Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
) climbing the stairs to see him and stops her barely in time. After the two talk for a while, Clara again heads up the stairs but Ellen stops her once more, saying George told her earlier not to let his aunt see him. Clara leaves in a huff, telling her George was "rude, mean and selfish since he's been six... he's worse if anything."
Ellen goes back up to the bedroom to change her clothes and sees the gun still in George's hand, narrating, "Somehow I knew I shouldn't leave it there." As she wrenches the pistol from his hand, it fires. Readying herself to leave the house, a polite but somewhat aggressive notary (Don Haggerty
Don Haggerty
Don Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
) rings the doorbell, telling her he has an appointment with George to go over some legal documents. She steadfastly says George is too sick to see anyone. Ellen desperately drives downtown to the post office to see the supervisor, who is friendly and gives her a form for George to sign but then, nettled by Ellen's unhinged and uncooperative behaviour, tells her he is going to allow the letter to be delivered. Defeated, she returns to the house and as she gets to the front door, a kindly neighbour woman (Georgia Backus
Georgia Backus
Georgia Backus was an American film actress who played mostly uncredited bit parts in more than 30 Hollywood films during the 1940s and early 1950s...
) offers to help Ellen, since she has seemed so upset all day.
When Ranney shows up to check on George, Ellen has become hysterical. Ranney tells her to be calm and goes up to the bedroom. Showing no apparent emotion for his dead best friend, he sees the bullet hole in the floor, finds the gun in a dresser drawer, methodically repositions George's body in the bed and draws down the window shade. Back downstairs with Ellen, Ranney listens as she tells him what happened, saying "I did everything wrong, just like he said I would." The doorbell rings. She thinks the police have come to arrest her but Ranney urges Ellen to open the door. When she does, it is the postman, returning the letter for insufficient postage. Ranney shows a sigh of relief, Ellen takes back the envelope and is overcome after closing the door. Ranney wordlessly rips the letter into narrow strips and burns these shreds in an ashtray along with a matchbook bearing the embossed names George and Ellen. The film ends with an underlying and unanswered question as to whether Ellen has been an unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
.
Cast
- Loretta YoungLoretta YoungLoretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
as Ellen Jones - Barry SullivanBarry Sullivan (actor)Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
as George Z. Jones - Bruce CowlingBruce CowlingBruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
as Dr. Ranney Grahame - Margalo GillmoreMargalo GillmoreMargaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
as aunt Clara Edwards - Bradley MoraBrad MorrowBrad Morrow, born Bradley Steven Mora, credited during his childhood as Bradley Mora, was a child actor who appeared on Broadway, in film and on television beginning at the age of two. Morrow was spotted in New York by MGM and appeared in films during the 1950s...
as Hoppy (Billy) - Irving BaconIrving BaconIrving Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in over 400 films. He played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by his namesake Lloyd Bacon such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...
as Joe Carston, the postman - Georgia BackusGeorgia BackusGeorgia Backus was an American film actress who played mostly uncredited bit parts in more than 30 Hollywood films during the 1940s and early 1950s...
as Mrs. Warren, the neighbor - Don HaggertyDon HaggertyDon Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
as Mr. Russell, the notary - Art Baker as the post office superintendent
- Richard AndersonRichard AndersonRichard Norman Anderson is an American actor in film and television, known to TV audiences as Steve Austin's and Jaime Sommers' boss, Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman TV series and their three subsequent TV movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man...
as the wounded sailor at a naval hospital
Production
Director Tay GarnettTay Garnett
Tay Garnett was an American film director and writer.Born in Los Angeles, California, Garnett served as a naval aviator in World War I and entered films as a screenwriter in 1920. He was a gagwriter for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, then joined Pathé and began to direct films in 1928...
thoroughly prepared both cast and crew and the film was shot in 14 days, a rather tight schedule for the era (Young reportedly used the same pre-production technique for her TV series a few years later). Some of the production involved location shooting on residential side streets near Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
in Los Angeles. André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
wrote the score.
Cause for Alarm! is among a few 1950s era MGM films which apparently lapsed into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
after their copyrights were not renewed in the 1970s. As with all PD MGM feature-length films produced by the studio itself (and possibly a few they merely distributed), the original film elements are now owned by Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
, with distribution rights handled by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(who spoofed the title in one of their 1954 short subject cartoons, Claws for Alarm
Claws for Alarm
Claws for Alarm is a 1954 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and produced and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was the second of three cartoons teaming Porky Pig and Sylvester the cat in a spooky setting where only Sylvester is aware of the danger the pair are in...
).
Casting notes
The film's producer Tom Lewis considered Judy GarlandJudy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
for the lead role before giving it to his wife Loretta Young. Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in over 400 films. He played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by his namesake Lloyd Bacon such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...
(a character actor who appeared in over 400 films during his career) was already widely known as the weary postman in the popular Blondie
Blondie (film)
Blondie is a 1938 movie directed by Frank Strayer, based on the comic strip of the same name. The screenplay was written by Chic Young and Richard Flournoy....
series of 28 films a decade earlier when he was cast as the postman chased by Ellen. Bradley Mora
Brad Morrow
Brad Morrow, born Bradley Steven Mora, credited during his childhood as Bradley Mora, was a child actor who appeared on Broadway, in film and on television beginning at the age of two. Morrow was spotted in New York by MGM and appeared in films during the 1950s...
was a noted child actor on Broadway and had appeared in the 1950 filmed version of Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (film)
Annie Get Your Gun is a 1950 American musical comedy film loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Metro Goldwyn Mayer release, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon based on the 1946 stage musical of the same name, was directed by George Sidney...
. Margalo Gillmore
Margalo Gillmore
Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
's successful acting career on Broadway stretched back to the late teens and Georgia Backus
Georgia Backus
Georgia Backus was an American film actress who played mostly uncredited bit parts in more than 30 Hollywood films during the 1940s and early 1950s...
(the kindly neighbour gardening next door) had a small role in Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
ten years before. Richard Anderson
Richard Anderson
Richard Norman Anderson is an American actor in film and television, known to TV audiences as Steve Austin's and Jaime Sommers' boss, Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman TV series and their three subsequent TV movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man...
went on to a long and successful career as a supporting actor on US television.
Critical reception
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
, wrote, "Here a simple situation is turned into a thoroughly chilling business by highlighting the most humdrum staples of the everyday American scene... Cause for Alarm proves more than anything else that superior writing, directing and acting- and some imagination- can make a little go a long way... The suspense, under Director Tay Garnett, mounts steadily, almost unbearably, until a final plot twist so original that it's almost a swindle."
Although Crowther criticized the casting of "newcomer" Bruce Cowling
Bruce Cowling
Bruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
as Ranney, calling his performance "wooden", he had only praise for Young, writing "...she does splendidly as the desperate housewife, avoiding all the pitfalls, even in her hysterical breakdown at the end."
Time magazine characterized the film "as the year's first thriller with an honest quota of thrills. It pulls off the old Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
trick of giving commonplace people, events and settings a sinister meaning, and it develops its simple, one-track idea with frightening logic." Time's review also noted the strong supporting performances of Margalo Gillmore
Margalo Gillmore
Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
and Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in over 400 films. He played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by his namesake Lloyd Bacon such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...
along with the film's "quiet, sunny atmosphere of a pleasant residential street" in Los Angeles.
However, in later decades the film was widely ignored (falling into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
) and the few retrospective reviews were less flattering.
François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
's short overview of Cause for Alarm! was kinder than many when he wrote, "But all those effects hit home, perfectly timed, and isn't that what counts?" 21st century reviews have tended towards Truffaut's take along with citing the film's suburban noir setting. Rotten Tomatoes notes, "Taut pacing, fine performances, and a great plot make this a classic thriller."
Allmovie also cites the performances of Gillmore and Bacon, along with describing the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg
Joseph Ruttenberg
Joseph Ruttenberg, A.S.C. was a photojournalist and cinematographer.Ruttenberg was accomplished winning accolades. At MGM, Ruttenberg was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography ten times, winning four. In addition, he won the 1954 Golden Globe Award for his camera work on the...
and score by André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
as "huge pluses." Sean Axmaker calls Cause for Alarm "An unusual entry into the film noir school of paranoia" which "...trades the dark alleys and long shadows of urban menace for the sunny, tree-lined streets of middle-class domesticity" whilst noting, "Young's deadened narration adds an eerie mood of doom to the suburban setting."
External links
- Cause for Alarm! at DVD Beaver
- Cause for Alarm! film trailer at Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
Media Room