''Cry Terror!'' (aka ''The Third Rail'') is a 1958 American thriller film starring

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

, Inger Stevens, and

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...

. The cast also featured Neville Brand,

Jack Klugman Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1950 and started television and film work with roles in ''12 Angry Men'' (1957) and ''Cry Terror!'' (1958). Du ...

and

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

. The crime story was written and directed by

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-nominated

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Andrew L. Stone Andrew L. Stone (July 16, 1902 – June 9, 1999) was an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film '' Julie'' in 1957 and received a star on the Hollywo ...

Plot

Paul Hoplin (

) is the mastermind of a crime to collect a $500,000 ransom, threatening to use an explosive device that Jim Molner (

) designed. He and his gang are holding Molner, wife Joan ( Inger Stevens) and young daughter Patty (Terry Ann Ross) hostage in a house in

Riverdale, Bronx Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point, at the Coll ...

. FBI agents gather in New York with representatives of an airline. Hoplin has been sending anonymous notes, suggesting that a bomb will be planted on an

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

. Joan Molner is forced to go alone to collect the ransom payment, while Hoplin's accomplices, a woman named Kelly (

) and a man named Vince (

), watch her husband and child in a Brooklyn penthouse apartment. Joan barely makes it back by the gang's deadline in time to prevent her husband's death. She is left alone with an ex-con, Steve ( Neville Brand), who has a history of sexual assaults on women. Forced to defend herself, she kills Steve with a shard of glass. Using the dental records of Kelly, the FBI find the hideout in Greenwich Village. They disarm Vince and shoot Kelly, wounding her. Now they must find Molner's wife, but Hoplin has seen newspaper reports that her husband and daughter are safe. She runs for her life into a subway, and when Hoplin pursues her, he steps on a third rail and is electrocuted.

Cast

as Jim Molner * Inger Stevens as Joan Molner *

as Paul Hoplin * Neville Brand as Steve *

as Eileen Kelly *

Kenneth Tobey Kenneth Jesse Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an extremely prolific American actor who performed in hundreds of productions during a career that spanned more than half a century, including his role as the star of the 1957-1 ...

as FBI Agent Frank Cole *

as Vince *

Jack Kruschen Jacob "Jack" Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. ...

as FBI Agent Charles Pope *

Carleton Young Captain Carleton Scott Young (October 21, 1905 – November 7, 1994) was an American character actor who was known for his deep voice. Early years Born in Fulton, Oswego, New York, Young was the second and only surviving child of Sta ...

as Roger Adams *

Barney Phillips Bernard Philip Ofner (October 20, 1913 – August 17, 1982), better known by his stage name Barney Phillips, was an American film, television, and radio actor. His most prominent roles include that of Sgt. Ed Jacobs on the 1950s '' Dragnet' ...

as Dan Pringle *

Harlan Warde Harlan Warde (born Harlan Ward Lufkin; November 6, 1917 – March 13, 1980) was a character actor active in television and movies. Career Warde showed up in supporting roles as detectives, doctors, and ministers. Warde made five guest appearan ...

as Bert * Ed Hinton as Operative *

Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, England. Chet was ranked 1,027th ...

as Himself *

Roy Neal Roy Neal Hinkel (May 30, 1921 – August 15, 2003) was an American television correspondent for NBC News. An aerospace specialist, he reported live on the Apollo 11 landing. His newscast from that event was later published on LP by Evolution Rec ...

as Himself * Jonathan Hole as Airline Executive *

William Schallert William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on '' Richard Diamond, Privat ...

as Henderson * Portland Mason as Patty's Friend On Schoolbus * Terry Ann Ross as Patty Molner

Production

With the working title of ''The Third Rail'', the production was shot from early August to early September 1957 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. For James Mason who had primarily taken on leading roles, with ''Cry Terror!'', he began to take on "colorful supporting roles and character leads", a direction he continued until the end of his acting career.

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records, ''Cry Terror!'' made $340,000 in the US and Canada and $680,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $48,000.

Critical response

''Cry Terror!'' was critically reviewed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' by

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

. He noted that the film was a "pallid" thriller:

"People who have a particularly low and permissive frightening point may get a few chills from "Cry Terror," which came to the Victoria yesterday. For this strictly-for-kicks melodrama, which Andrew and Virginia Stone have made on an undisguised low budget for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is full of the sort of fast arm-twisting and menacing of innocent people with senseless perils that passes for ruthless realism among those patrons who don't like to use their heads."

Film critic Dennis Schwartz was not able to suspend his disbelief in his review of ''Cry Terror!'':

"Director-writer Andrew L. Stone presents an ill-conceived attempt at making a realistic thriller about a mad bomber extorting money in a terrorist plot via the 1950s. There are too many implausible occurrences for the narrative to handle and it all falls by the tracks in the climactic hysterical underground subway chase scene, which yields to Hollywood melodrama ... Unfortunately the story lacked the kind of tension it needed throughout and there were too many coincidences and contrived plot points to sustain interest."Schwartz, Dennis
"Film review: 'Cry Terror!'"
''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'', September 9, 2005. Retrieved: July 7, 2014.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Halliwell, Leslie. ''Leslie Halliwell's Film Guide''. New York: Harper & Roe, 1989. . * Maltin, Leonard. ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia''. New York: Dutton, 1994. .

External links

* * * * {{Andrew L. Stone 1958 films American crime thriller films American aviation films American black-and-white films Film noir Films directed by Andrew L. Stone Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films