Overlooked Movies: The Window

Set and filmed on location in the tenement section of New York's Lower East Side, the film tells the story of a young boy who has a habit of crying wolf. Late one night he climbs up the building fire escape and sees two people murder a drunken sailor. No one, not even the boy's parents, believes young Tommy when he tells what he has seen, since they all assume that this is just another of the boy's tall tales. The murderous neighbors find out the boy is a witness to the killing and plan the same for him when his parents are away. Tommy fears that the killers are out to get him, so he runs away from home only to be caught by the two.


Taglines:
It never lets you go!

This peril-thrilled adventure in suspense...the terrifically taut story of a boy of too much imagination who was the only witness to a murder...alone against the killers because nobody believed his story!

Fun Trivia:
Howard Hughes bought RKO in 1948 just after the completion of The Window. Filmed in the winter of 1947 when Bobby was 11, Hughes saw the film, didn't think much of Driscoll's performance, predicted it was going to be a flop and ordered it shelved. After some convincing Hughes did eventually realease the film in 1949.


The Window cost $210,000.00 to make. When it was finally released it became a huge hit and almost all the credit went to Bobby Driscoll. It made back 10 times the original investment and became the surprise hit of the year.

The original poster for this film featured only Bobby Driscoll but Hughes pulled it and had a new one produced that featured the film's adult characters and Bobby shown only in sillouette. When the movie became a surprise hit the new poster was immediately recalled and the original poster was sent to all the theaters for display.


Bobby won an Oscar on March 23, 1950 at the Pantages Theatre for his performance in The Window.

The Window has been remade three times; The Boy Cried Murder (1966), Eyewitness (1970) and Cloak & Dagger (1984).

Fun Quotes:
Police Officer: A good lickin' never hurt anybody, boy. My old man used to give me enough of 'em when I was a kid. Hey, still in all, I never thought of callin' the cops when he did.