Cause for Alarm!

This film must be what passed for a 'chick flick' in the 1950's. It helps if you are a Loretta Young fan, and their are many of us. She is ably supported by Barry Sullivan and by the capable direction of Tay Garnett. Maybe 'tense drama' would be a better way to describe this picture as it barely falls under the heading of Film Noir - no violent confrontations, no dark, wet back alleys here, just sustained suspense, especially in the second half of the film. Miss Young is in almost every scene and the production seems almost stage-bound as it takes place mostly in the home of Young and Sullivan, with a few exterior shots thrown in.

Still, Miss Young gives a good performance and the movie holds the interest throughout, and is very worth watching.

CAUSE FOR ALARM boasts a fine leading lady in the talented Loretta Young who is believable in the everywoman role she plays here. Barry Sullivan as her sick and mentally unbalanced husband George Jones hits just the right note as well. While the film is somewhat dated in terms of the here and now, it has some very gripping and suspenseful moments especially involving the very real panic surrounding the letter George sent the district attorney due to his psychotic delusion that his wife and his doctor (her old friend) were plotting to kill him. In fact the ending here does cast a little doubt in the viewer's mind making this film even more intriguing. Any fan of suspense thrillers should enjoy this one.

The film deals with a husband who believes his wife with the help of his doctor are trying to kill him. The wife was a nurse at a veterans hospital where they met and fell in love. The doctor was an old friend of the husband. The husband is so convinced of their plot that he writes a letter to the District Attorney stating all the facts and evidence pointing to the murder plot. The wife not knowing the contents of the letter gladly mails it for her husband who is confined to a bed. The entire story deals with her trying to recover the letter which implicates her and the doctor in the husband's death. This film moves at a good pace and most likely is one of those overlooked films because it lacks the flash and glaze of a big Hollywood film. Great little film that accomplishes what it intended. Lastly, you begin to feel sorry for the wife.

Loretta Young acts up a storm as a woman (Ellen) married to a terminally ill man (George) who believes she is planning to murder him. Husband Barry Sullivan composes a letter to the District Attorney, explaining how exactly Young will commit the murder…

The film is a showcase for Young, and she delivers a fine performance. The story, however, is very hard to accept. There are many things happening on the screen which needed to be more fully explained. For starters, the husband's illnesses - how does his heart condition affect his mind as manifested on screen? Then, there are several actions Young takes which do not seem to be the choices most level-headed thinking individuals would take. So, maybe she's not exactly a level-headed thinking individual?

****** Cause for Alarm! (1951) Tay Garnett ~ Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling

There are several things wrong with Cause for Alarm, all of which contribute to a less than satisfying experience. Loretta Young is, to put bluntly, completely unconvincing as the wife of Barry Sullivan. Her attempts at portraying panic and something approaching a nervous breakdown just make her seem weak minded and vague. This is a role that would have suited a noir queen like Ida Lupino who can sustain a level of acting and intensity entirely suitable to this kind of plot. Sullivan, by contrast, gives his usual excellent performance - as far as it can extend given the inadequate script.

Another problem with this film is the storyline. Sullivan's descent into paranoia is too abrupt, too blunt to be really convincing or effective. During the flashback there are hints of a darkness in his soul and a cruelty, one which his future wife Eleen is entirely unaware of. Suddenly we are asked to attribute his mania to an overdose of heart medicine. This inconsistency is illogical, detracting from the menace established by his character in the early scenes.

On the plus side, a noir set in and around the home (and especially the home that isn't that of a policeman, as in say The Big Heat) is a good idea, with a lot of potential. The kitchen or the living room can be just as dangerous and claustrophobic as the mean streets outside. It's a shame that the Jones' home is not made more of as a source of menace. Sullivan's suspicions initially seem promising but he dies too quickly and make his accusations to easily to really satisfy.

The standouts in the cast is Irving Bacon as the pedantic postman. His beautifully fussy performance, a finely honed affair of self importance and wariness, almost make the rest worth sitting through... In short Cause for Alarm is no real cause for celebration. A shame, especially as Garnett also directed the classic The Postman Always Rings Twice.