User reviews

Storm Fear is a contrast of brothers, both of whom have failed in life. Cornel Wilde plays the `bad' brother, fleeing from a bank robbery. Dan Duryea is the `good' brother who can't come to grips with his own artistic and personal failures. I do not like Cornel Wilde, yet I found he created a sympathetic, very human `good-for-nothing', a surprisingly less intelligent role for a lead actor to play. Duryea, on the other hand, is much less sympathetic, perhaps because he is reaching for stars that are obviously out of his grasp. Jean Wallace is quite good as Duryea's wife and Wilde's former lover. She effectively straddles the worlds of both men. Steven Hill portrays the unstable member of Wilde's gang, but he doesn't seem quite sure how far to take his character at times.

This should have been more claustrophobic with 6 people cooped up in a house in a snow storm, but the script handles this nicely. The film gives the appearance of being an inexpensive production; yet, it makes the most of what is there in set, actors, etc. Wilde does a credible job of directing. Elmer Bernstein's score is a plus. The ending, however, is totally unsatisfactory, obviously bowing to conventions of the mid 50s when uncompromising films were not the norm.

Cornel Wilde who preferred to chart his own course in independent film making as opposed to going to television as so many of his contemporaries were doing made a fine one with Storm Fear. As per usual his wife Jean Wallace joined in the endeavor. It must have been good for him as well as financing for his movies to have a leading lady instantly available.

In this film Wilde is a nominal bad guy. A charming bank robber at least as far as the women are concerned. At least as far as Jean Wallace is concerned as they had a son together, but it was Wilde's older brother Dan Duryea, a would be novelist who married Wallace and carried on the fiction that he was David Stollery's father. They live in a remote area of one of our Rocky Mountain states.

Wilde's just robbed a bank and he and his two surviving accomplices, Lee Grant and Steven Hill head for the Duryea-Wallace farm as a hideout and to recuperate as Wilde was shot in the holdup. Of course while they're there Duryea spots some sparks between Wilde and Wallace.

Wilde who directed as well as played the lead got some complex emotions out of his players. He's a bad guy, but still charming in his own way and protects his family from what a psychotic Steven Hill might do. Wallace is still in love with Wilde, but knows full well what a charming liar he is. Duryea is a decent, but inadequate man who knows he's been a failure far from his usual variety of psychotic villains.

Before Kirk Douglas's more celebrated breaking of the blacklist with hiring Dalton Trumbo for the Spartacus screenplay, Wilde did some blacklist breaking of his own in hiring Lee Grant in what turned out to be only her second feature film. Grant does very well in a role that calls for her to be a good natured gangster's moll who meets with a tragic end. In fact the most straight forward part in the film is that played by Dennis Weaver as the hired hand on the Duryea-Wallace farm who goes chasing the robbers.

Wilde assembled a fine supporting cast to support him as an actor and his vision as producer/director. One reason he could hire Lee Grant was because he was producer of Storm Fear which was released by United Artists. He created a real winner here.

This is a strange Low-Budget, well Cast Thriller and is a first time Directorial effort from Cornel Wilde. It is the claustrophobic first half that works best as tensions mount and identities are revealed. As things open up later, in the snowy outdoors, it turns rather routine as its limitations are exposed.

There is an attempt at some unusual Family situations that adds some verisimilitude and in Film-Noir tradition all the Characters are flawed. If things were kept indoors the tension would be almost unbearable, but as it is, the last third seems more like typical Hollywood.

Although the Child is central to the Plot and is crucial to the Theme of things gone wrong and regretful behavior, it is ironically left to the Pre-Teen to carry the emotional baggage at the end and it doesn't quite come off as a satisfying closing to the Family Circle. Certainly worth a view because it is a bit different, but the final Act is just too pat and seems a lot less believable than what went before.

There may be a Christmas tree in the living room, but there is little festive flavour to this grim, gripping yarn, which combines crime drama with family misfortunes - regret, remorse and recrimination.

Dan Duryea is a writer who has much wrong with him. Hostile to the music on the radio (wait till you hit the '60's man!), whilst his ailing body and sporadic whines are the closest things to strong drink permitted in the isolated house he shares with dutiful wife, Jean Wallace and teenage son, David Stollery. It's difficult to warm to dismal Dan. There is a blanket of snow outside and he presides over a no less icy mood indoors. The arrival of his brother, Cornel Wilde, shot up and on the run following a robbery, with accomplices, bully boy Steven Hill, who resembles William Bendix after a six week course at Slimming World and his moll, blonde bombshell, Lee Grant, plunge the temperature even further.

A hostage in her own home, Wallace is charged with removing the bullet from Wilde's leg. A painstaking undertaking lightened by the backdrop of big band jazz. Wilde's relief at no longer having a bullet in quickly subsides with a news bulletin revealing that the cop shot during the robbery has since died.

With a visit from handyman Dennis Weaver falling into the "Phew that was a close one!" category and the law drawing ever nearer, Wilde presses his nephew into guiding them over the snow veiled mountain to the highway, whilst Wallace is...er..a bit tied up.

Soon Grant experiences a painful fall (told her not to wear those high heels!) and has a suspected broken ankle. Ah, the 1950's, the age of chivalry. After briefly discussing her sorry plight the two men decide....to leave her to the elements, flinging her a few dollars to become soggy in the snow for company. Cold comfort, literally, as she can't walk, there isn't a shop within miles and at this time Amazon was just a river.

On his directorial debut, working with a small, but eminently capable cast, Wilde hits a middle point where 'On Dangerous Ground' meets 'The Desperate Hours.' He conjures desolately noirish motifs from the unconventional settings, successfully pursuing themes of isolation, loneliness and desperation.

Another of the 'home invasion' dramas so popular at the time, except with a twist. Here the fleeing criminals (bank robbers) invade the secluded mountain home of one (Wilde) of the robbers' old sweeties (Wallace) now married to a failed writer (Duryea) with an adolescent son (Stollery). Naturally, in these cramped quarters with a blizzard outside, emotions bubble over, especially with the consumptive, jealous Duryea, plus the unstable gunman Steven Hill.

These are promising elements but the drama really fails to gel, because Wilde is too nice to project real menace, while the real menace, Hill, is never given the kind of emotional close- ups that would establish his danger. Instead, he just sort of prowls around in the background. Actually, the movie's mainly about the burgeoning Wilde-Stollery relationship, where you have to read between the lines about the actual source of the dog collar. Then too, it's Stollery stealing the movie in a poignantly shaded performance, while Wilde unwisely spends too much time showing off his manly chest.

The second half moves to the great outdoors, where the gang tries to escape the approaching cops by fleeing over the snowy mountains. Here we get some suspense as the figures are reduced to little dots on a great white landscape. Now they're struggling not only with each other, but with an overwhelming nature. This part plays out in fairly effective fashion, though I never did figure out what exactly the errant snowplow was doing on an anonymous mountainside.

All in all, it's an uneven, sometimes awkwardly filmed movie, whose chief virtue may be what it doesn't tell the audience about the relationships instead of what it does. And kudos to producer Wilde for giving the blacklisted Lee Grant a minor part as the gang's moll, at a time when the best this fine actress could get is TV walk-ons. My guess is Wilde took on too much for a first-time filmmaker (director-producer-star) and would have been advised to hire an accomplished director. But then this was a low-budget effort, (the interiors were filmed in a TV studio!). Wilde's real filmmaking talent would show up later in the acclaimed Naked Prey (1966), so I guess this was something of a learning experience.

A husband and wife plus their son are visited by the husband's brother and his gang after the thugs pull off a bank heist. The meeting stirs up a lot of trouble, and dredges up old memories and desires. Great dramatic finale as the thieves try to escape over the mountain.

Fred Blake (Dan Duryea), his wife Elizabeth Blake (Jean Wallace), and their son David (David Stollery) live in the remote New England wilderness. Once every few days, they are visited by Hank (Dennis Weaver) who brings them supplies and mail. Out of the blue, Fred's younger brother Charlie Blake (Cornel Wilde) shows up with gun moll Edna Rogers (Lee Grant) and volatile henchman Benjie (Steven Hill). Charlie's been shot during a bank robbery. A snow storm descends upon them.

This is a solid crime noir B-movie. There could be more tension if Charlie isn't as nice. I get that he's manipulating Davey. He could be more disturbed or holding a large grudge against his brother. If anything, Fred is more disturbed than Charlie. It's interesting but it may work better if the brothers got switched. Fred seems much more unstable. I've seen a few of these actors, but for a Law & Order fan, the most familiar face is Steven Hill. He's not really the thuggish type. I have no big complaints, but I do want to raise the tension. I want a meaner Charlie.

A struggling writer and his family are visited at their remote mountain farm by his brother -- a wounded bank robber on the lam. Cornel Wilde directed eight films in his lifetime (seven of them, like this one, starring himself) and this was his first. And a superior first film it is, one I liked much more than NAKED PREY. Elevated far above the usual hostage drama by the strained familial relations and internal strife within each group. The interactions between the players are leaden with sorrow, failure and the ghosts of past regrets. Every character occupies a gray area, conflicted and/or damaged. Even the young boy plays a crucial role beyond being just an adorable moppet in jeopardy. The exception is the sidekick character who is pretty much your standard bad guy, but even he is given life with an engaging performance by Steven Hill. The whole cast is great: Lee Grant as the shabby dame, Jean Wallace as the wife with some secrets of her own, Dan Duryea again impressing me with a role outside his usual mold, Dennis Weaver as the hired hand, and of course Wilde. He makes an interesting choice to play the character with a slight stammer, hinting at the doubts that gnaw at him. The script is thoughtful and gripping, with a few great hard-boiled zingers for Grant and Hill. I also have to mention the music, yet another sublime score by Elmer Bernstein. This is an outstanding picture that takes unexpected turns and is heavy with melancholy and desperation. It needs a restoration and DVD release immediately.

I first noticed Mr. Wilde in "Naked Prey" - although it's now a bit dated in some ways, much like that better known film, "Storm Fear" is a gripping tale when viewed with the appropriate 'Fifties mindset.

Cornel plays "Uncle Charlie", a ne'erdowell prodigal son returned to his brother's home while on the run from a capital crime with his gang of gruesomes. As its plot unfolds, we learn many disturbing lessons about Charlie and his brother and his brother's wife.

Akin to cinematographic pulp fiction, this is a memorable effort perhaps due to its depiction of universal, timeless human flaws. You'll love to hate Uncle Charlie, but I think you'll enjoy the rest of the cast even more.

...and appreciate them; when drama and acting were more important than special effects. cornel wilde was an underrated director, and gives an impressive performance . It's really an ordinary film, made almost hypnotically watchable by excellent acting, filming and direction. the actor playing the boy is totally believable. and I can't resist noting that I recognized dennis weaver without knowing he was in it.

Gem from the BLACK SERIES with Cornel Wilde

This "film noir", which is not very well known in German-speaking countries, premiered on December 16, 1955 in New York City and is a representative of the so-called Black Series of American films that impressed in the 1940s and 1950s with their darkness and resounding cynicism. The Hungarian-born American leading actor Cornel Wilde (1915-1989), who made his first contacts with the film business in 1940 as Laurence Olivier's fencing coach on Broadway, also acts as a producer with his Theodora Productions and also directs. What a self-made man!

It tells the dark story of three bank robbers, Charlie Blake (Cornel Wilde) and his cronies (Steven Hill, Lee Grant), who have to hide from the police in the snowy mountain hut of Charlie's brother Fred (Dan Duryea). Old family conflicts break out because Fred is married to the beautiful Elizabeth (Jean Wallace, married to Cornel Wilde from 1951 to 1981), who was actually Charlie's girlfriend in her youth. The couple's ten-year-old son (David Stollery) hardly knows his Uncle Charlie and suffers greatly from his parents' alienation. Due to the seemingly hopeless situation, the situation for those who are virtually trapped becomes more and more dire until the intruders finally lose their nerve...

Here, an exciting, dark crime story is skilfully combined with a heart-touching family drama. The unity of place, time and plot is almost classically maintained and increases the intensity of this film gem immensely.

Cornel Wilde, who was particularly noticeable for his impressive physique in films such as "The Greatest Show in the World" (1952) and "Constantine the Great" (1961), proves to be an accomplished film craftsman who understands a lot about the structure of a drama and the The requirements of the genre are met almost perfectly.

In her rather small role as nightclub singer Edna Rogers, Lee Grant, born in 1925, creates a truly magical moment when she sings the song about "Loch Lomond" in a wonderfully off-key way. Twenty years later, Lee Grant was awarded an Oscar for best supporting actor for her role as a bored housewife in "Shampoo" (1975), who likes to bring her strong-armed hairdresser (Warren Beatty) into the house for special treatments.

Former decathlete Dennis Weaver (1924-2006), who was supposed to play a very special role in Steven Spielberg's directorial debut "Duel" (1971), can be seen as Hank, the helping hand of the Blake family.

A very exciting film that is still little known! It's worth it!

The outdoor scenes in Storm Fear were filmed near Sun Valley, Idaho. A local fellow named Eddie Bennett donned a fur coat and a blonde wig, and played "Edna" when she was pushed off the rock formation (which is located about 3/4 of the way from Ketchum NW to Galena Lodge). Eddie later gave the wig to my father, who gave it to me. Mr. Wilde was kind to a young girl eager to become a writer, and gave me one of the working scripts of Storm Fear. My little sister and I (in our serious moments) read the lines and acted out the script very seriously. In our silly moments, we took turns wearing the wig while the other shouted "Die, Edna, die!" and pushed "Edna" off the roof of our grandparents' house into deep snow.

With the weakening of film studios in the 1950s, due to the rise of television and one of the last attacks against monopoly by the SCOTUS, many actors, such as Cornel Wilde, started their own production companies. The prolonged exposition by writer Horton Foote and Elmer Bernstein's music creates suspense in this largely unpredictable story of criminals on the run. Characters who seem unlikeable at first become increasingly sympathetic as we learn more about them. And nothing is more satisfying than sitting in a warm movie theatre, munching popcorn, goobers and jujubes, while the actors struggle in a blizzard.

Bank robber Cornell Wilde shows up at the farmhouse of his weakling writer brother, towing maniac Steven Hill and his moll, Lee Grant. The police are looking for him; a man was killed during his last robbery. After wreaking havoc, he convinces his adoring twelve-year-old nephew, David Stollery, to help them escape over the mountains, with armed farmhand Dennis Weaver in pursuit.

It's all a bit over the top in terms of performances, but the story is good, and Lee Grant is unexpectedly good as a bleached-blonde floozy with a mink coat. Her career had begun auspiciously with a role in DETECTIVE STORY. Almost immediately, she was blacklisted for refusing to testify about her husband before the HUAC; she later remarked that she had been married to a communist and a fascist, and neither would take out the garbage. She began to direct in the 1970s, and is still with us.

Storm Fear is actor Cornel Wilde's directorial debut, which stars himself and his first wife Jean Wallace, in the role of his long lost lover Liz.

Wilde plays Charlie, a bank robber on the lamb, with his crew consisting of a dame named Edna and his psychopath partner Benji.

Their last job went sour when they were forced to kill a cop, and the fourth member of the crew was gunned down.

Knowing the cops would think they were going to head South to Mexico, they instead make their way North to Charlie's brother Fred's house- where he lives with his wife and young son, Davey.

Fred is a struggling sickly writer, who had married his no good brother's girl, and agreed to raise their son as his own.

But he's a bitter unloving man who doesn't bring much joy to their lives.

So everything gets turned upside down when Charlie shows up with a gunshot in his leg, a bag full of money, and a crew looking to hold up before they can make an escape.

They only plan to stay one night, but a storm moves in and traps them in the rural townhouse...where the pressure starts to get to them...especially Benji, who is hellbent on murdering them all so he can take the money for himself.

The bizarre love triangle between the beautiful Jean Wallace and two brothers builds up the dramatic tension, before the group of crooks decides they must take the boy and make their way over a mountain to get to the highway, so they can get away before the cops hone in on them.

But crime doesn't pay in this tragic tale...and they'll be lucky if any of them makes it off the side of this mountain.

A third suitor, named Hank, who is the family's hired man plays the deciding role in all of this.

And it doesn't particularly have a happy ending.

But it's a great first feature from Wilde, who also does an excellent job as Charlie. Wallace is a stunner as Liz, even in her homely manner as a housewive. And the standout performance goes to young actor Steven Hill as Davey in his introductory performance.

All in all, it's a great little film, that's chock full of tension. Despite the unsatisfying conclusion of the story.

6.5 out of 10.

Cornel Wilde is excellent in this dark drama about a group of hoods on the run who show up at the door of a remote home snow bound in winter. We learn more about the relationship between the leader of the hoods (Cornel Wilde) and the family he's holding captive as the move unfolds. Very tense, engrossing film that you won't want to take your eyes off.

Like Ida Lupino and a handful of others, Cornel Wilde went before the camera ;it is his first effort,and it's a curate's egg.He would do much better works ,such as his masterpiece "naked prey " -which was a strong influence on Gibson's "apocalypto" -or "no blade of grass" ,the latter displaying his concern for the family unit in the context of a disaster movie .

The family unit is at the centre of "storm fear" : call it William Wyler's "desperate hours" (released the same year ) in the mountains ,but without the great director's science of cinema ;but it was Wilde's debut after all.

Like in Wyler 's film ,most of the action takes place in a house where a whole family is head hostage by gangster after a robbery .There the comparison ends ,for the gang leader is dad's kid brother (I'm no more the kid brother!says he!) who used to be in love with his sexy sister-in-law (Jean Wallace,then the director's wife and a recurrent actress of works to come );hence blood ties ,completely absent in "desperate hours" .

Unfortunately ,supporting characters are cardboard : dad is a failed writer ,suffering from TB ,but Dan Duryea is left on his own devices to moan and to cough without much purpose ;it was certainly brave to hire blacklisted Lee Grant ,who was unforgettable in Wyler's "detective story" as a shoplifter tomboy ; here ,wearing a horrible blond wig ,she's little more than an extra as the gangster 's moll , whose only moment is her rendering of "the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond".Both Dennis Weaver and Steven Hill are wasted , as the bland good guy and the inexpressive villain.

We're left with the leader,his former love and the boy : they make the movie watchable because their relationship is complex and many events of Charlie 's tumultuous past are smartly left in the shadow ;to have an uncle called Charlie does not bring any luck whatever the hoodlum may say :see Hitchcock's "shadow of a doubt " (1943);its heroine (Teresa Wright) and the young David follow opposite paths : first ,the boy is terrified by this intruder ,who is wounded and carries a gun;then little by little ,he begins to be fascinated by this uncle who has travelled all through the land whereas he's never left the family farm : his admiration keeps on growing , and the dead dog's collar in the Xmas tree is a deeply moving moment :in the last part of the movie,his fear has turned into admiration and even affection.Elizabeth is more ambiguous : why does she let her hair hang down? And when they remember their childhood , they can't help bursting out laughing.Although fate decided otherwise ,they are the family unit the three of them have always dreamed of .

I like Cornell Wilde, especially in Naked Prey and Beach Red. I also like Elmer Bernstein, who has written some of the best music for film in cinematic history, including The Ten Commandments and many other great scores. I like Lee Grant, who was a talented actress (other than in this turkey). I believe the part where Duryea rips up his manuscript and tosses it into the fire was actually the writer of this mess transposing his thoughts to the screen. At least he should have. The actor? who played the co-robber of the bank was absolutely terrible. There is more ham in this film than in a German deli. The kid and mom were OK, but Duryea was horrendous. Wilde gives it the old college try, but the dialogue is so bad, Olivier couldnt save this film. He was just a bad imitation of Brando. The music was the worst thing of all. I would rather go to the dentist for a day of pain than to listen to this sound track by Bernstein, who normally does a great job. What a mess. This film goes directly to my turkey farm.

I know that Cornel Wilde doesn't play here the total, radical bloodthirsty killer, the disgusting gangster whom the audience whishes to be shot, hanged, cut to pieces, slaughtered, wiped out after half an hour. He is rather a smooth gangster whom the audience can feel empathy to; and that's a pretty good surprise though, very daring from him. But admit that putting Dan Duryea in the poor good guy, is very surprising too. When I saw the cast and the topic, I would have bet my last cent that Duryea would have been the leader of the bad men invading the cabin. Besides this, that film noir from the fifties is a good feature. Needs to be shown.

"Storm Fear" is a film much like "The Desperate Hours", but instead of just a family being forced to harbor fugitives, it involves fugitives forcing themselves on family...as the gang leader (Cornel Wilde) is both the brother of the man of the house (Dan Duryea) AND the wife's ex-lover! Wow...talk about a complicated situation!

Charlie (Wilde) has been wounded in a shoot-out with the police during a robbery. One member of the gang was captured and the remaining gang members are a psycho (Steven Hill) and a gun moll (Lee Grant). They show up at his brother's isolated home and force them to put them up. In the meantime, a bad winter storm arrives and the crooks are snowed in with the family. During this time, all sorts of family secrets pop out and the boy of the house starts to idolize his evil uncle. Where does all this go next? See the film.

This is a most unusual movie because it not only stars Cornel Wilde but he produced and directed it. This is even more unusual since Wilde wasn't exactly an A-list celebrity. How he got to do all three roles in this movie is a mystery.

So is it any good? In some ways, yes...in others not especially. Too often the acting is overwrought...with lots of yelling and overacting. This was not true with Steven Hill, however, as he was supposed to be menacing and evil...and he was fine in this odd role. On the positive side, the story is never dull and the dynamics of all the characters is interesting as well. Plus the ending sequence is excellent...making the film well worth seeing.