Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

atlasmb Released the same year as "The Accused"--a better film that received plenty of attention by critics and the media--"The House on Carroll Street" is another Kelly McGillis vehicle, but it suffered from a lack of interest.McGillis plays Kathryn Murphy, an editor for "Life" magazine who loses her job after being targeted in a 1951 Senate hearing by the zealous committee that capitalized on the Red Scare.She takes a lesser job but unexpectedly (and very coincidentally) finds herself embroiled in a dangerous intrigue.Unfortunately, the script lacks motivation for some actions taken by Murphy. As she plays sleuth, there are some Hitchcockian touches, but they only serve to remind the viewer of how this film is lacking.Shot in Manhattan, the exteriors are sometimes interesting.Jeff Daniels is an FBI agent who is charged with investigating Ms. Murphy. Mandy Patinkin plays the heavy. And Jessica Tandy plays the strict employer who is reluctantly charmed by Murphy's disarming demeanor.This period piece does a good job of recalling the fifties, but the meat of this story leaves one wanting.

JonathanWalford Although the film's story-line is fiction, the facts of this low-key thriller are based on truth and provide a 'what if' scenario that keeps the viewer engaged. The director, Peter Yates, captured a style of filming and cinematography that makes it feel almost like an undiscovered Hitchcock film. Kelly McGillis is believable, although perhaps not quite the typical Hitchcock blonde, and Jeff Daniels may sound a bit too modern in some of his speech inflections, but Everything else about this film reeked of authenticity, from the genuine feel of the sets and authentic but real clothing, to the dialogue. I don't know why this film rated only a middlin score with viewers - perhaps they were expecting more of an action thriller,rather than the political intrigue style of thriller that it is.

Terrell-4 Emily Crane, a photo editor at Life Magazine, refuses to turn over to a Senate committee the names and files of a civil rights organization she's associated with, she doesn't realize she'll soon be out of a job and probably the cause of a young German being stabbed to death. That's not the least of it. Soon she'll be refusing a great hamburger while a senior Senate committee staff man uses catsup on a white dining clothe to illustrate the red menace. And finally, she'll find herself clambering over the interior catwalk of New York's Grand Central Station dome, high above the floor, while killers try to insure she trips. To my mind, The House on Carroll Street is a solid and talented, if not exceptional, child of Hitchcock. The year is 1951 and anti-Communism hysteria is in full bloom. Congressional demagogues, black-listing and secret FBI files abound. When Emily (Kelly McGillis) loses her job, we learn she's under FBI surveillance. Agent Cochrane (Jeff Daniels) has been assigned to take secret photographs of her, find out who she talks to and to follow her about New York. He observes when, in need of a job, she is interviewed by Miss Venable (Jessica Tandy) to read to the old lady. And one afternoon, relaxing in the townhouse garden of Miss Venable's home, she overhears part of a conversation in German coming from the next house. Naturally nosy, she moves closer through the bushes, glimpses the face of a young German fellow she accidentally met a day or two before on the street...and then sees the face of the Senate staff head, Ray Salwen (Mandy Patinkin). Salwen was responsible for hauling her before the committee. Something is not right. A few days later she follows the German to a Jewish cemetery and finds him writing down the names of dead Jews. He seems scared. Before long, she is helping him escape from the house on Carroll Street, only to see him stabbed death in front of her. By now, FBI agent Cochrane not only realizes something is very off, he realizes Emily Crane has nice legs, is quite likable and may be in danger. He's puzzled when he is warned off by his superiors and then taken off her case. In solid Hitchcockian style, we have been following this nice and nosy woman while she slowly discovers skullduggery and then realizes that she has placed herself at great risk. And in equally solid Hitchcockian style, we have met the man in agent Cochrane who with persistence and humor will attempt to keep her from danger while joining her in uncovering a plot that deals with German war criminals and powerful men in high places. The movie has well-directed set pieces, ranging from a covert meeting in a huge, dim Greenwich Village book store to a spooky breaking-and-entering into the now abandoned house on Carroll Street (where Emily meets a man with a knife) to the exploration of the tunnels below and the girders high above the Grand Central main station. Most of all, it has two instantly appealing main characters in McGillis and Daniels. Both are completely natural in their portrayals. They have guileless faces. We immediately like both of them. Daniels in particular shows the kind of open-faced honesty that makes the movie so satisfying. The caveat I have is Mandy Patinkin. He is a forceful, intense actor. Patinkin makes Salwen a creature of such supreme self-confidence, such repellent humor that Salwen doesn't just stand for the evils of the period, he disgusts us. Patinkin's self-serving, power-justifying Salwen, full of phony patriotism and contemptuous high spirits, in my opinion very nearly overbalances the movie. Patinkin is just an inch away from becoming a caricature. Added to that are two speeches that Patinkin is given to justify his actions. Unfortunately, they move over into manipulated melodrama. The speeches are so over-the-top they tend to place the movie on hold while Patinkin gives them. However, the screenwriter is Walter Bernstein, a talented man who was black-listed for years. I'm more than willing to cut him some slack. I think The House on Carroll Street is a well-crafted semi-romantic thriller which doesn't use explosives (well, there's one), cynicism or cumbersome back stories. It has two attractive and likable leads, a plot with a message or two which keeps moving along and a bit of humor. It also has a happy ending which, in one regard, may be unexpected.

holt-4 The film has good pace, and excellent photography, and is very much in the style of Hitchcock even to the music which, at times, one feels was almost written by Bernard Herrmann. A simple story perfectly developed, with an economical and sharp script.