This is Richard Baseheart's film, making one of his many very odd characters, of which this one may be the most spectacular. Although he really doesn't appear in many scenes, the show is actually stolen by all the others, especially by Paul Douglas, who makes one of his best performances as well, - the scenes in which Richard really acts couldn't be more convincing of a man at the end of his tether, his life in ruins, his character shattered from the beginning, all shaking nerves and capable of being fatally upset by any unpleasant detail. Agnes Moorehead plays his mother, and although she is not much seen either, she makes a tremendous dominance of her part. Out of a small incident, Henry Hathaway makes an overwhelming epic of almost universal dimensions, as almost all New York gets involved. As the film states in the end, this happens almost every day, people and authorities, the police and fire brigade are used to it and know how to handle it, which doesn't make it less of a fatally dramatic emergency every time it does happen. Even though the police and firemen are all professionals and know what to do, nothing can stop mistakes from being committed, and here a tremendous lot of people are involved in them, including a preacher, vulture journalists, a league of doctors, bookmakers, irresponsible youngsters adding to the mess, there are a lot of minor dramas in this film, adding it to Henry Hathaway's already fine collection of semi-documentaries, among which this is definitely one of the best. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

"Fourteen Hours" is a low budget offering with a simple plot and a relatively short running time but it's also an incredibly gripping drama about a disturbed young man who threatens to commit suicide by jumping off a skyscraper window ledge.The story's based on the real life incident which involved John Wilson Warde who on 26 July 1938 leapt to his death from one of the highest window ledges of the Hotel Gotham in New York City. Director Henry Hathaway filmed the action in a style which was very realistic and made good use of some strikingly effective camera angles. His approach was also one which avoided any tasteless sensationalism or sentimentality.Shortly after delivering breakfast to a hotel guest, a service waiter suddenly realises that the young man has stepped out onto the ledge outside of his room and is threatening to jump. The waiter reports what's happened to the hotel manager and at the same time, traffic cop Charlie Dunnigan (Paul Douglas) who is working on the street below, alerts his colleagues to what's going on before swiftly going up to the would be jumper's room. There Dunnigan poses as another hotel guest and starts a conversation with the troubled Robert Cosick (Richard Basehart) who despite Dunnigan's encouragement, refuses to step back into his room.Soon, the police, newspaper reporters and a couple of psychiatrists arrive, Dunnigan is ordered back to his traffic duty and outside a large crowd gathers and radio and television crews quickly set up their equipment. The psychiatrists discover that Robert is unwilling to speak to anyone but Dunnigan and so he's duly called back to the scene by Deputy Chief Moksar (Howard Da Silva).The police locate the young man's divorced parents but Robert only becomes more upset by the arrival of the hysterical Mrs Cosick (Agnes Moorehead) and also fails to communicate properly with his father (Robert Keith) from whom he's been estranged for many years. Next, Robert's ex-fiancée Virginia (Barbara Bel Geddes) is brought to the hotel but her intervention ultimately proves to be just as ineffective as that of his parents. Robert's predicament is eventually resolved but in a most unexpected way.In "Fourteen Hours", the despair of a solitary man on the ledge provides a stark contrast to the frantic activity of the large number of people in his hotel room. Similarly, this man's lonely and desperate life or death situation is seen as insignificant in a large city where the onlookers who watch him simply regard the whole incident as a gross inconvenience and even take bets on what time he'll jump.The story's subplots which involve a couple meeting in the crowd and falling in love and a woman changing her mind about proceeding with her planned divorce also emphasise how the lives of the city and its people drive relentlessly on because one person's crisis is totally insignificant in this kind of environment.Robert Cosick is a man with a history of mental problems and his instability at the time of his crisis on the ledge is explained as being caused by the inadequacies of his parents and the way he was treated by them.This movie has a cast who turn in some good performances but it's the contributions of Basehart and Douglas which really stand out. Basehart looks genuinely tormented and anxious and it's understandable that the strongest bond that he forms is with a man who has the type of qualities which would normally be associated with those of a conventional good natured father figure. Douglas is also excellent as the kindly and modest man who puts his sound personal qualities to good use in what for him is a very challenging situation.

FOURTEEN HOURS begins with Richard Basehart walking onto the ledge outside his hotel room. He's about to jump but can't quite bring himself to do it. A nearby cop (Paul Douglas) looks up and sees him on this ledge on the 15th floor and hurries over to the hotel to try to talk him out of jumping. Soon, his superiors come and relieve him--they'll work on trying to get Basehart down and Douglas simply isn't trained for this sort of thing. However, the so-called experts don't seem to get through to them, so they get Douglas back--after all, he had developed some rapport with the jumper. Soon, a series of family members are brought to help out, though in hindsight his mother (Agnes Moorehead) visiting was probably NOT the best idea. Does he jump or does he chose life? And, why in the first place did he decide to end it all? See for yourself to find out--you won't be sorry you did.This film has one of the simpler plots I can think of--yet it all seemed to work very well. This is because the film was written so very well and the actors managed to make the most of it--especially Douglas as a sort of "everyman" cop. Taut direction, excellent lighting and a first-class production all around sure helped. Who would have thought such a deceptively ordinary idea could be handled so well?

Nervous young man visiting New York City stands on the ledge outside his fifteenth-floor hotel room window threatening to jump; the first cop on the scene, a "flat foot" working stiff, establishes a connection with the kid just before the whole incident boils over into a media circus. Despite a disclaimer at the beginning, this was indeed based upon a true story, and John Paxton's screenplay (expanded from an early draft by Joel Sayre) admirably wastes little time at setting the viewers' nerves on edge. Unfortunately, the budding confidence the cop initiates with the suicidal man isn't really developed--and, possibly in an editing mistake, he seems to know more about the guy's situation than he should be privy to. Paxton sets up several story threads within the large crowd gathering below on the street, but these relationships (particularly between the jaded cab drivers) are equally tepid. Strong central performances do bolster the melodrama, particularly by Paul Douglas as the good-hearted traffic officer (it's really Douglas' movie), Richard Basehart as the man on the ledge, and Howard da Silva as the police chief. Many famous, likable character actors pop up in support, as well as Grace Kelly in her film debut. Involving and intense, though sharper attention to detail and character might have turned the proceedings from good to great. **1/2 from ****