Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Aaron Igay I've always seemed to enjoy films that were about a single event in real time. Archival time is obviously necessary for any story that spans more than a few hours, but real time films just seem to be inherently engaging. OK so the film isn't 14 hours long, but it does all take place in one spot on one day. This noir about a jumper on the side of a skyscraper in NYC is packed with great (if slightly cliché) characters, including the on-screen debut of Grace Kelly. Unfortunately many of the actors in this film were blacklisted during the HUAC witch hunt a few years later and would not be seen in films again. Uniquely, there is no score or music in the film outside of the titles which further adds to the realism.

HAL9000-4 Alternately cynical and ebullient, this film evokes the best and worst of the reality TV generation with it's breathless minute-by-minute commentary from news reporters who seem as frantic as it's desperate protagonist.A horribly mis-cast Richard Basehart as "the boy" is difficult to watch. Basehart, best known to me as the craggy captain of the Seaview in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", was actually 37 years old at the time this was made and doesn't fit the role of anxious recent college grad. His co-star, 8 years younger, seems closer to the mark. Basehart can deliver the goods on the ledge though, he just seems a bit long in the tooth for confused youngster.The movie excels in its tense dialog between "the traffic cop" and "the boy" but it falls flat in every other scene. The cops are all from Central Casting and you're basic stereotypes from every 1940s movie you've ever seen.A couple of other side-stories are grafted on as bookends, basically spectators who are drawn together by the event. However, the action is telegraphed so far in advance only a four-year old would not know the outcome after the first 3 or 4 lines of dialog. Grace Kelley turns in a nice performance. We rented the movie to see her "Debut", which turns out to be all of about 5 minutes of screen time.It does presage a real-time action drama like "24". It might have even worked better that way. We are only aware of the gaps in the 14 hour stretch by things like a pile of cigarette butts or more obviously when night falls.Many people who are simply lazy cast this film into the "Noir" bucket, certainly the cynicism of some of the bystanders fits the mold, but the overall optimism by everyone involved and the lack of a "femme fatale" make this not noir material except by date. Shame on Fox for their laziness in lumping it in there.

moonspinner55 Nervous young man visiting New York City stands on the ledge outside his fifteenth-floor hotel room window threatening to jump; the first cop on the scene, a "flat foot" working stiff, establishes a connection with the kid just before the whole incident boils over into a media circus. Despite a disclaimer at the beginning, this was indeed based upon a true story, and John Paxton's screenplay (expanded from an early draft by Joel Sayre) admirably wastes little time at setting the viewers' nerves on edge. Unfortunately, the budding confidence the cop initiates with the suicidal man isn't really developed--and, possibly in an editing mistake, he seems to know more about the guy's situation than he should be privy to. Paxton sets up several story threads within the large crowd gathering below on the street, but these relationships (particularly between the jaded cab drivers) are equally tepid. Strong central performances do bolster the melodrama, particularly by Paul Douglas as the good-hearted traffic officer (it's really Douglas' movie), Richard Basehart as the man on the ledge, and Howard da Silva as the police chief. Many famous, likable character actors pop up in support, as well as Grace Kelly in her film debut. Involving and intense, though sharper attention to detail and character might have turned the proceedings from good to great. **1/2 from ****

Arun Vajpey 1951 seemed to be a year for films depicting rescue of an individual in peril; there were three such films - ACE IN THE HOLE, THE WELL and of course, FOURTEEN HOURS. All three were very good films but I like the last mentioned best. The camera-work from several different perspectives is superb, the involvement of the onlookers just right and the rescue efforts looked quite realistic. I disagree with comments that some situations and characters were clichéd; many major cities did have beefy Irish-American beat cops in the early 50s and so Paul Douglas' character is perfectly acceptable. Likewise, the 'good ending' is not necessarily traditional; after all, the rescue attempt would have been in progress for hours and the police were pulling out all stops. The odd thing is that although the film is available on DVD, it remains relatively unknown even among connoisseurs of Film Noir.