Storm Fear (1955)

A wounded bank robber (Cornel Wilde) and his two accomplices (Lee Grant, Steven Hill) hold his brother's (Dan Duryea) family hostage in a remote farmhouse until a raging snowstorm passes. Based on the novel by Clinton Seeley from a screenplay by Horton Foote (TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL) and directed by Wilde, this is a tight economical little thriller. Wilde does a taut job of constructing the claustrophobic tension of people at odds with each other trapped in a confined space with nowhere to run. The scene stealers are Hill as a creepy loose cannon (in the kind of part Duryea would normally play) and Grant as a brassy blonde moll. Favorite moment: Grant pours whiskey into her milk and Hill yells "What are you doing?" to which she snaps "You know I can't drink my milk straight". Ah, a girl after my own heart. On the downside, there's David Stollery who gives one of those fake performances too often given by child actors of the era. The film features an early Elmer Bernstein score. With Jean Wallace and Dennis Weaver.