Rent House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
3.5 of 5 from 66 ratings
1h 29min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- "House on Telegraph Hill" is an intriguing cliffhanger set in a spooky Victorian mansion below Coit Tower in San Francisco. Victoria Kowelska (Valentina Cortese) has lived through World War II bombings and relocation camps, and has finally emigrated to San Francisco Bay. Now she should be blissfully happy with her devoted husband in their mansion overlooking the San Francisco Bay. But Victoria is not who she seems, her child belongs to someone else, and her husband and housekeeper are frightening her half to death.
- Actors:
- Richard Basehart, Valentina Cortese, William Lundigan, Fay Baker, Gordon Gebert, Steven Geray, Herbert Butterfield, Kei Thin Chung, John Burton, Katherine Meskill, Mario Siletti, Charles Wagenheim, David Clarke, Tamara Schee, Natasha Lytess, Ashmead Scott, Mari Young, Tom McDonough, Alex Ball, Flo Buzby
- Directors:
- Robert Wise
- Producers:
- Robert Bassler
- Writers:
- Elick Moll, Frank Partos, Dana Lyon, Robert Bassler, Richard Murphy, Robert Wise
- Others:
- John DeCuir, Paul S. Fox, Lyle Wheeler, Thomas Little
- Aka:
- The Frightened Child
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Day For Night, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1, Films to Watch If You Like..., A Brief History of Film...
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Reviews (1) of House on Telegraph Hill
'Frisco Noir. - House on Telegraph Hill review by Steve
Curious film noir which steals narrative riffs from many other genre classics (I Married a Dead Man, Suspicion, etc) but contains quite a startlingly original premise for the period about the ongoing ordeal of a distressed woman (Valentina Cortese) rescued by American forces from Belsen.
She steals the identity of her deceased friend from the camp in order to get to America where the the dead woman's son stands to inherit from the wealthy family who took him in. The survivor marries the family lawyer (Richard Basehart). But does he plan to kill her to seize the money for himself?
The luxurious house of shadows on Telegraph Hill has ominous presence and a classic noir look. The secret old playroom with a hole blasted through a wall reveals a cliff edge overlooking San Francisco, suggestive of the guilt and fear of discovery that hides in the imposter's heart.
This is presented in a semi documentary style (incorporating newsreel of the camp) through flashback. Cortese is sympathetic in a role that puts her on screen for the whole running time and is convincing as a woman who has suffered profoundly. It's a lesser known Robert Wise film, but very suspenseful.
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