CrimeDrama

Detective Story

- The love story of a man whose wife was more woman than angel!

Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.

Release Date : 1951-10-24

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Paramount Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Det. James McLeod

Original Name : Kirk Douglas

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mary McLeod

Original Name : Eleanor Parker

Gender : Female

Character Name : Det. Lou Brody

Original Name : William Bendix

Gender : Male

Character Name : Susan Carmichael

Original Name : Cathy O'Donnell

Gender : Female

Character Name : Karl Schneider

Original Name : George Macready

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lt. Monaghan

Original Name : Horace McMahon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miss Hatch

Original Name : Gladys George

Gender : Female

Character Name : Charley Gennini

Original Name : Joseph Wiseman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Shoplifter

Original Name : Lee Grant

Gender : Female

Character Name : Tami Giacoppetti

Original Name : Gerald Mohr

Gender : Male

Character Name : Det. Gallagher

Original Name : Frank Faylen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Arthur Kindred

Original Name : Craig Hill

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lewis Abbott

Original Name : Michael Strong

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joe Feinson

Original Name : Luis van Rooten

Gender : Male

Character Name : Det. Dakis

Original Name : Bert Freed

Gender : Male

Character Name : Endicott Sims

Original Name : Warner Anderson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Det. O'Brien

Original Name : Grandon Rhodes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Det. Pat Callahan

Original Name : William Phillips

Gender : Male

Character Name : Patrolman Barnes

Original Name : Russell Evans

Gender : Male

Character Name : Newspaper Photographer (uncredited)

Original Name : Charles Campbell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ed (uncredited)

Original Name : Edmund Cobb

Gender : Male

Character Name : French Woman (uncredited)

Original Name : Ann Codee

Gender : Female

Character Name : Mrs. Farragut (uncredited)

Original Name : Catherine Doucet

Gender : Female

Character Name : Desk Sergeant (uncredited)

Original Name : Pat Flaherty

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dave Gallantz (uncredited)

Original Name : Harper Goff

Gender : Male

Character Name : Patrolman Gus Keogh (uncredited)

Original Name : Howard Joslin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Taxi Driver (uncredited)

Original Name : Donald Kerr

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman (uncredited)

Original Name : George Magrill

Gender : Male

Character Name : Det. Coleman (uncredited)

Original Name : Mike Mahoney

Gender : Male

Character Name : Albert R. Pritchett (uncredited)

Original Name : James Maloney

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman (uncredited)

Original Name : Lee Miller

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman Finney (uncredited)

Original Name : Ralph Montgomery

Gender : Male

Character Name : Willie the Janitor (uncredited)

Original Name : Burt Mustin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Man in Custody (uncredited)

Original Name : Jack Perry

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mulvey (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert S. Scott

Gender : Male

Character Name : Desk Sergeant (uncredited)

Original Name : Jack Shea

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hysterical Woman (uncredited)

Original Name : Kay Wiley

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

It's intense at the 21st Precinct. An assortment of detectives and an assortment of criminals, all gathered together under the oppressive 21st Precint roof. It's a day that nobody present will ever forget - for better or worse... Directed by William Wyler (Best years Of Our Lives, Ben-Hur & Wuthering Heights) and starring Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell and Joseph Wiseman. Detective Story is based on the smash hit Broadway play by Sidney Kingsley, adapted by Phillip Yordan and Robert Wyler, it's with much relief to me that the worry of it being a stagy production never actually materialises. Practically set on one bleak, but quite excellently appropriate set (creation courtesy of Hal Pereira & Earl Hedrick), Detective Story manages to rise above the very simple plot by boasting interesting characters in a pot boiling story just waiting to reach its peak. Each character has much to offer the film, be it oddly quirky or overtly intense, within the confines of this particular precinct, the characters create engrossing drama. It's a difficult film to sell without giving too much away, by outlaying the character persona's and mental fortitude's, I personally feel that it will dull the impact of this influential crime genre piece. It's got real raw emotive acting, particularly from Kirk Douglas as Jim McLeod and Eleanor Parker as his wife Mary, while the technical aspects (watch Lee Garmes' camera glide like a third party witness) are impressively high. And with it embracing as it does, morality themes, it also doesn't lack for interest to the cranial head scratching crowd. It's by definition to me an all encompassing picture, one that is now sure to be a perennial viewing in my home. It's not a standard crime picture, and it most definitely is a talky film, but this works incredibly well, so one can only hope that many others will feel the same as myself, in that namely that it is indeed a fine and essential genre piece. 8/10