StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1 November 1951 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 6 November 1951. U.S. release: November 1951. U.K. release: December 1951. Australian release: 15 August 1952. Paramount delayed the Australian release because they wanted the film showcased at the Prince Edward. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 15 August 1952 (ran six weeks, second only to Here Comes the Groom as that theater's highest-grossing picture of 1952. Yes, Detective Story sold many more tickets than A Place in the Sun). 9,314 feet. 103 minutes.NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Hudson on 23 March 1949, running a most successful 581 performances. Ralph Bellamy played McLeod. Lee Grant, Joseph Wiseman, Michael Strong and Horace McMahon reprized their Broadway roles for the film version. Also in the play were James Westerfield, Meg Mundy, Alexander Scourby, Maureen Stapleton, Edward Binns, our favorite actor Robert Strauss, Lou Gilbert, Jean Adair, Warren Stevens, Joan Copeland, Les Tremayne and Harry Worth. Playwright Kingsley directed, Boris Aronson designed the set, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse produced.Nominated for AMPAS Awards for:— Best Actress, Eleanor Parker (won by Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Supporting Actress, Lee Grant (Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire); Best Directing, William Wyler (George Stevens for A Place in the Sun); Best Screenplay (A Place in the Sun). Number 5 on the Ten Best American Films of 1951 selected by The National Board of Review. Number 4 on the composite list of the Ten Best Films of 1951 compiled by The Film Daily in its annual survey of U.S. film critics.COMMENT: Even today, Sidney Kingsley's Detective Story is a compellingly forceful piece of theater. Full credit must go to Wyler and his writers for retaining the structure, atmosphere and power of the play, yet making it seem so cinematic that we are rarely aware that we're watching a stage play not a film.Wyler is assisted in this masterful illusion by as fine a troupe of players as has ever been assembled for a transfer from Broadway to Hollywood. Kirk Douglas gives the performance of his career. So does Eleanor Parker; and also Horace McMahon (who was rarely handed a film role of comparable importance to this one). And if George Macready were not already one of our favorite villains, we would be giving him a Guernsey too.

Leofwine_draca DETECTIVE STORY is one of those thrillers that takes place over the course of a single day, a bit like an old-fashioned 24. Thus the premise is a decent one - a police station is the setting for about 90% of the story - and the web of lies, deceit, and conflict that arises from the arrest of a back street abortionist is well crafted and expertly staged. And when I say staged, I mean it; this was an adaptation of a popular stage play, which is apparent in the single location nature of the thing.It's an interesting little work that plays out as a character piece for the most part. Kirk Douglas appears in a star-making turn as the stressed-out detective who becomes more and more personally involved with his case. He has the everyman likability of his son Michael here, and is completely believable in the part. The supporting cast is a delightful mix of laconics, wiseguys, and eccentrics, and incorporates the familiar faces of Lee Grant, Bert Freed, William Bendix, and future spaghetti western star Craig Hill. Overall, though, it's director William Wyler (ROMAN HOLIDAY) who keeps the whole thing taut and bubbling merrily along.

ricbigi William Wyler shows all his talent and directing genius leading a splendid cast in this adaptation of Sidney Kingsley's 1949 play, set in a New York police station. Other reviewers have already written detailed analyses of this fine film and I should only like to emphasize how deeply impressed I am by a work that seems undeservedly forgotten these days. The excellent script is very well handled in cinematic terms and the action never drags, although mostly set indoors at the police station. The gallery of characters is fascinating. They are all interpreted with great skill by one of the best acting ensembles I have ever seen. Kirk Douglas fully deserved an Oscar nomination for his role as Det. James McLeod (surprisingly, he never got one, but that was the year of Bogart's THE African QUEEN, Brando's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, March's DEATH OF A SALESMAN and Clift's A PLACE IN THE SUN). Eleanor Parker, as McLeod's loving wife, and Lee Grant (recreating her stage role as the young shoplifter) are predictably outstanding. The Academy recognized their work by nominating them for Best Actress (Parker) and Best Supporting Actress (Grant), but that was the year in which Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter won for their legendary performances in STREETCAR. Grant won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival that year, a recognition she fully deserved (for her very first film role; one wonders how many brilliant performances she would have given us had she not been blacklisted by courageously defying the infamous House Committee on Un-American Activities). The remainder of the cast, in which William Bendix stands out as Det. Lou Brody, is a marvel of effortless, natural, intelligent, dynamic exchanges and integration. A masterpiece of its kind.

pathaniav I am a big fan of film noir from the 50s, and so I picked this for a Sunday evening watch. However, Detective Story does not really fall in that genre. This movie is much more than stylish - it has oodles of substance. The story unfolds largely within the confines of a police station and much of the action occurs within one large room. The pacing is brisk, and most of the characters are introduced fairly early. Kirk Douglas turns in an intense performance as Jim McLeod - a ruthless crime fighting cop who has a stark view of the world as made up of good guys and bad. He and prosecutes all crime, no matter how minor, with a brutal zeal. He does not believe in extenuating circumstances. The first half of the movie leads you to think that you are watching an entertaining crime drama where McLeod is the upright cop who, whilst chafing at the bounds of permissible legal conduct, seeks to bring an influential, wealthy, and well-lawyered crook to justice. In his mind, McLeod has convicted and damned the crook with a ferocious loathing. It is the sudden mid-story twist that brings this film into its own. McLeod's relentless persecution precipitates a personal crisis that will alter his own life forever. In the second half, the movie grapples with surprising emotional intensity with eternal questions - who are we to judge, in damning others do we damn ourselves, and how do we bring ourselves to forgive? I was so engrossed that I postponed my loo break until the very end. This is a fantastic movie - loved it.