Overview: Director William Wyler (Detective Story, Roman Holiday) pairs up two Hollywood legends - Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca) and Fredric March (The Best Years of Our Lives) - for their only appearance together. The result is an electrifying tour de force pitting two giants of the silver screen against each other.

Three escaped cons, led by the ruthless Glenn Griffin (Bogart), force their way into a suburban home, intending to hide out while they await the arrival of an all-important package. But what should have been an overnight stay extends into a protracted hostage situation, pitting Glenn against the embattled family patriarch, Daniel Hilliard (March) - a man with everything to lose.

Blu-ray Verdict: Adapted by Joseph Hayes (The Third Day) from his own novel and stage play and inspired by actual events, The Desperate Hours is a classic tale of suspense from a master filmmaker at the height of his creative powers, now fully restored from the original VistaVision negative.

Three escaped and armed convicts, led by notorious Glenn Griffin (Bogart), take over a house in middle class suburbia and hold the Hilliard family at gunpoint until the mail arrives the following day containing their getaway money. In the meantime the terrorized family must carry on with their everyday routine without arousing anyone’s suspicions.

With the police hotly on the gang’s trail and closing in - the family little by little - begin to make attempts to outwit their unwelcome guests, gain the upper hand and thwart their plans. After two of the convicts are shot dead by the police the picture ends in a stunning sequence with the husband (March) confronting and fooling Griffin with an empty gun before the police marksmen, under huge arc lights, gun him down in a hail of gunfire in Hilliard’s own front lawn.

Thanks to Wyler’s adroit direction, his genius for camera angles and set-ups, brilliant crisp cinematography and great performances THE DESPERATE HOURS is more than a neat little thriller. Suspense is maintained throughout at a very high level. Wyler’s film proceeds with commendable energy and intensity. Mesmerizing is Bogart as the unshaven disheveled sneering and dangerous leader of the three fugitives.

His Glenn Griffin is one of his great and most underrated performances and should have at least earned him a nomination. Excellent too is the wonderful Fredric March as the beleaguered husband and father Dan Hilliard (Spencer Tracy was originally slated to play this part but neither he nor Bogart would accept second billing).

Also good is Martha Scott (Judah Ben Hur’s mother in Wyler’s 1959 epic) as the wife and mother, the likable and ill-fated Gig Young as the boyfriend of Hilliard’s daughter (played by pretty Mary Murphy). And there’s an extraordinary performance from the rotund Robert Middleton as Kobish the violent, unscrupulous and giggling puerile convict. [J.D.]

Special Features:
Brand new restoration by Arrow Films from a 6K scan of the original VistaVision negative
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original restored lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all films
Brand new audio commentary by film historian Daniel Kremer
Trouble in Suburbia – brand new appreciation of the film by José Arroyo, Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick
The Lonely Man – brand new visual essay by Eloise Ross, co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque
Scaled Down and Ratcheted Up – brand new audio interview with Catherine Wyler, daughter of director William Wyler
Lobby cards gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Philip Kemp and Neil Sinyard