Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

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.

grantss A day in the life of New York's 21st Precinct detective squad. Shows their everyday routine, the issues they have to deal with, from petty complaints by citizens, to minor felonies, to major crimes. At the centre of the action is James McLeod (played by Kirk Douglas), a hard-nosed, hot-headed detective who always gets his man, one way or another.Interesting take on the detective genre. Not the glamorous side that we are used to seeing in movies and on TV but the everyday, more accurate, side. Almost every scene is inside the police station, showing just how much police work is more about paperwork and interrogating suspects than actually apprehending them.While the movie includes several different strands, following different suspects, it is still quite engaging. This is due to largely concentrating on one detective in particular, James McLeod, his methods, flaws and personal life, and how these are linked. Lee Grant's character, the small-time female shoplifter, also provides an outsider's perspective on goings-on, as well as some of the film's more humorous moments.Not brilliant though. Certain aspects of the plot feel a bit too neat and contrived and the character-drama side of the movie feels overblown, helped by a large dose of overacting, especially from Kirk Douglas. The dialogue and acting were so over-the-top at times it felt like a play.Not perfect, but entertaining nevertheless.

JasparLamarCrabb An extremely stagy version of the Sidney Kingsley play. Director William Wyler does not open up this into anything cinematic, but that's fine. The acting is so good, it's impossible not to enjoy this film. Kirk Douglas is a hot-headed NYC detective being eaten alive by his own demons. A moral compass run amok, nobody is safe in his presence. Least of all his wife (Eleanor Parker), who has a past Douglas was not aware of. The film features several story lines all taking place in a precinct house and includes simpleton pocketbook thief Lee Grant, crazed cat burglar Joseph Wiseman and ex-GI turned embezzler Craig Hill. All are dynamite as is the rest of the colorful cast. The dialog is tough, Douglas is pretty hyperactive while Parker is surprisingly sedate in what may be her finest performance (she was Oscar nominated as best actress though her screen time is limited). Grant steals her scenes --- it's hard to tell if she's dimwitted or just very eccentric. William Bendix plays good cop to Douglas's bad cop.

winstonfg I'm 55 years old and I watched this film for the first time tonight, and ... well the title says it: Powerful, claustrophobic, intense, this is definitely 100 minutes you won't regret; and it could only ever have been done in black-and-white.Kirk Douglas is given reign to do what he does best without ever quite going overboard (as he was apt to do later on) and he's wonderfully supported by a cast that act out of their skins; particularly Horace McMahon, who I'd never heard of before watching this, but I'll be looking out for now, and a very young Lee Grant - probably more familiar to most as catch-all guest star of many 70's TV shows - who is almost unrecognisable in her role as the shoplifter/onlooker.Bendix, Parker, Wiseman, O'Donnell, Mohr... there are too many to list, but each plays their part to the hilt, and the result is a film-noir tale of the highest order. Yes, it has the feel of a play, and it might be difficult for younger viewers to understand the mores of the time; but it suspended my disbelief almost from the first frame and held it to the last.This is ensemble acting at its best, and if, like me, you somehow missed it along the way: go get a copy.