The Window (1949)

In a lower East Side tenement, a boy (Bobby Driscoll) who has a history of fabricating stories witnesses a murder when on a hot summer night, he sleeps on the fire escape. But because he has a reputation as a liar, no one believes him ..... except the killers (Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman). Based on the short story THE BOY CRIED MURDER by Cornell Woolrich and directed by Ted Tetzlaff, better known as a cinematographer (Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS) than as a director. Tetzlaff manipulates some genuine tension in this low budget thriller (yet another variation on Aesop's fable about the boy who cried wolf once too often) but much of it is dissipated because of Driscoll's irritating central performance. It's one of those annoying child actor performances where they seem to be play acting and indicating everything rather than giving off a semblance of a real child though this is a minority opinion. His performance is apparently much admired (he was given a miniature Oscar by the Academy for his performance). It also doesn't help that the killers, as incompetent and not very bright as they are, are much more likable than the kid either. The fusion of the actual New York locations and the RKO soundstage sets are melded nicely. Music by Roy Webb. With Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy as Driscoll's working class parents.