The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

Directed by Robert Wise; produced by Robert Bassler

After spending six years in a German concentration camp, a Polish woman (Valentina Cortese) takes a desperate gamble. She impersonates her recently deceased friend in order to start a new life in the United States. Vowing to take care of her late friend’s child - too young when parted from his mother to remember her - the refugee begins to enjoys the wealth, prosperity and happiness her new persona brings, until she suspects that something is wrong, even dangerous, in her surroundings.

Viewers may see The House on Telegraph Hill as derivative of both Rebecca and Suspicion. Certainly, it has elements of both, and if one hasn’t seen either of the earlier films, this one will be gripping and intriguing. But even if one is familiar with the two Hitchcock movies, The House on Telegraph Hill will hold its own. I believe its climax is more thrilling than Suspicion’s (and truer to the atmosphere and characters of the film), though you may have just as difficult a time determining who is up to what.

The direction cannot be faulted. Wise creates a tense feeling inside the title house, a house which is not really that frightening (unlike the one in his later The Haunting). This was, pardon the pun, wise, as the house in this movie is not the home of ghosts, but is seen as a welcoming place by the heroine. When she feels something is amiss, it is clear the problem lies with the people, though which ones may be tough to guess until the end. There is also a good scene in which a car’s brakes fail on the precipitous streets of San Francisco; it will cause more than one viewer to hold his breath.

The story is a good one. Cortese may be seen as a schemer but, I imagine, half a decade in Belsen would make anyone jump at a chance for security and happiness, especially if, as she believes, no one will be hurt by it. She is, however, a decent person, and tries her best both to fit and be a good member of her new family. The clues to a sinister plot in the background are well-laid, and the plot doesn’t point to anyone in particular for some time. When the revelation comes, it comes with a casualness which is both intended and startling. The principal complaint with the storyline is with the coincidence of the U.S. Army refugee placement officer (William Lundigan) re-appearing as a long-time acquaintance of Cortese’s husband.

The acting is most satisfactory. Richard Basehart gives his usual strong characterization as a lawyer who swiftly falls in love with the immigrant he at first questions, then befriends. Fay Baker’s performance is strong but perhaps too reminiscent of Judith Anderson’s housekeeper in Rebecca, though her motives are quite different. Lundigan may seem to be a routine love interest, but he may be perceived as too flippant, the way an unlikely suspect is in a mystery, though this has more to do with the directing and writing than his acting.

All in all, The House on Telegraph Hill is an atmospheric, well-executed thriller, taking full benefit of the directing and the leads’ talent.