The House Across the Street (1949) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Mob pressure sends a crusading reporter from the front page to the advice column.

Cast & Crew

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Richard Bare

Wayne Morris

Janis Paige

Bruce Bennett

Alan Hale

James Mitchell

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Comedy

Release Date

Sep 10, 1949

Premiere Information

New York opening: week of 1 Sep 1949

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 9m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Synopsis

When Villman, a witness who was to testify in the fraud trial of racketeer Keever, is killed while in the custody of the police, newspaper managing editor Dave Joslin writes several articles charging the police with incompetence. After Keever threatens Dave, J. B. Grennell, the paper's owner, who is worried about a libel suit, begs Dave to stop covering the story. Dave refuses and Grennell fires him. When Dave reminds him that he has a contract and cannot be fired, Grennell replies that Dave's contract has a clause that allows him to be re-assigned to any editorial position on the paper and names him the new "Dolly Trent," as the advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist is called. This news delights Kit Williams, who had been filling the position since failing to complete an assignment. Humiliated by the assignment, Dave quits. Later, Kit joins Dave in a local bar where he is getting very drunk. After accusing him of being a bad sport, she goads him into returning to work. One afternoon, a woman named Billie Martin comes to the paper to talk to "Dolly." She explains that she has had a fight with her boyfriend, Carl Schrader, who disappeared for a day and claims not to remember where he was during that time. When Dave learns that Carl had been drinking at Keever's nightclub, Horseshoe Harry's, he listens carefully to Billie's story and is even more interested to discover that Carl disappeared on the same day that Villman was killed. Dave questions Carl and then proceeds to the rooming house where Carl had regained consciousness. The manager refuses to talk to Dave, but a little girl named Madge remembers seeing a redheaded woman in a fur coat. Dave suspects that she is the same woman who was talking to Carl before he lost consciousness. Kit finds Dave's notes and decides to talk to Madge herself. Madge reveals that she overheard the redhead give the address "248" to the cab driver, but cannot recall the street. While she is questioning Madge, Kit is observed by Marty Bremer, one of Keever's men, who later tries to run her over. Bremer then decides to send Carl out of town. While Carl is packing, Kit and Dave arrive at his rooming house and Bremer hides in the kitchen during their conversation. Kit notices the half-packed suitcase and also spots Bremer's shadow on the wall. After she and Dave leave, she tells Dave what she saw. She then realizes that the address Madge heard must have been "240 8th." While Kit contacts the police, Dave proceeds to the address and learns that redheaded Beth Roberts lives there with Bremer. Later, Dave tells the police to look for a connection between Bremer and Carl. At Horseshoe Harry's, Dave spots a roving photographer and learns that she took a picture of Carl that night. Dave and Kit track down the negative and notice that in the background, Bremer is passing money to tough guy Eddie Macklin. Dave assumes that the money is payment to Macklin for killing Villman. Dave shows the picture to Carl, who remembers that he showed the photo to Bremer, who was sitting next to him at the bar, shortly before meeting Beth. Dave then uses the photograph to convince Bremer to testify against Keever. Keever is indicted, and Dave gets his old job back. Dave then tells Kit that she may either take back the Dolly Trent job or marry him, and she accepts his proposal.

Director

Richard Bare

Cast

Wayne Morris

Janis Paige

Bruce Bennett

Alan Hale

James Mitchell

Barbara Bates

James Holden

Ray Montgomery

Lila Leeds

Alex Gerry

Jack Wise

Eddie Foster

Charles Lane

Doreen Mccann

Zon Murray

Jack Mower

Ray Largay

Billy Mclean

Fred Kohler Jr.

George Chandler

Abe Dinovitch

Ray Walker

Phyllis Coates

Chick Chandler

Eddie Parks

Fred Kelsey

Billy Gray

Crew

G. W. Berntsen

Everett A. Brown

Roy Chanslor

From a story by

Elmer Decker

Assistant Director

Saul Elkins

Russell Hughes

William Lava

Frank Magee

Charles Maxwell

John Maxwell

Dialogue Director

Don Page

Hugh Reticker

William Snyder

Director of Photography

Perc Westmore

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Comedy

Release Date

Sep 10, 1949

Premiere Information

New York opening: week of 1 Sep 1949

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 9m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Articles

The House Across The Street

October 10, 2013

Though his reputation rests primarily on having written the novels that served as the inspiration for Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar (1954) and Elliot Silverstein's Cat Ballou (1965), Roy Chanslor enjoyed a long career as a Hollywood scribe, penning screenplays in a variety of genres, chief among them westerns and mysteries. His original story "Hi, Nellie" - a pulpy riff on Nathaniel West's "Miss Lonelyhearts" (adapted for films in 1933 as Advice to the Lovelorn), in which a big city news reporter is demoted to the advice desk - was first adapted for the movies by Warner Brothers in 1934, with Paul Muni playing the lead. The material was reworked for Ronald Reagan in Love Is on the Air (1937), where the setting was a radio station, and gender-reversed for Brenda Marshall in You Can't Escape Forever (1942). Remounted again in 1949 as The House Across the Street, the plot finds racket-busting journalist Wayne Morris shifted for fear of a libel suit by editor Alan Hale to the newspaper's advice column. Glumly resigned to his fate, Morris changes his tune when a pretty blonde with boyfriend troubles offers him a backdoor to exposing racketeer Bruce Bennett. Chanslor's story was trotted out again for radio on Lux Video Theatre, in a November 1956 adaptation starring Don DeFore and Virginia Grey.

By Richard Harland Smith

The House Across The Street

The House Across The Street

Though his reputation rests primarily on having written the novels that served as the inspiration for Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar (1954) and Elliot Silverstein's Cat Ballou (1965), Roy Chanslor enjoyed a long career as a Hollywood scribe, penning screenplays in a variety of genres, chief among them westerns and mysteries. His original story "Hi, Nellie" - a pulpy riff on Nathaniel West's "Miss Lonelyhearts" (adapted for films in 1933 as Advice to the Lovelorn), in which a big city news reporter is demoted to the advice desk - was first adapted for the movies by Warner Brothers in 1934, with Paul Muni playing the lead. The material was reworked for Ronald Reagan in Love Is on the Air (1937), where the setting was a radio station, and gender-reversed for Brenda Marshall in You Can't Escape Forever (1942). Remounted again in 1949 as The House Across the Street, the plot finds racket-busting journalist Wayne Morris shifted for fear of a libel suit by editor Alan Hale to the newspaper's advice column. Glumly resigned to his fate, Morris changes his tune when a pretty blonde with boyfriend troubles offers him a backdoor to exposing racketeer Bruce Bennett. Chanslor's story was trotted out again for radio on Lux Video Theatre, in a November 1956 adaptation starring Don DeFore and Virginia Grey. By Richard Harland Smith

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

For more information on the three other Warner Bros'. films based on Roy Chanslor's story, for You Can't Escape Forever.

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