"Emily Crane left her home one morning and stepped into a nightmare."
Budget:$14,000,000
Revenue:$459,824
Release:3/4/1988
Genres:Drama | Thriller
Original language:English
Spoken languages:English
Countries:United States of America
Overview:
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.… Expand
The House on Carroll Street (1987) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD]
9/27/2021Trailer
Reviews
60%
Wuchak
Created:4/28/2023
Updated:4/28/2023
**_Kelly McGillis plays a Nancy Drew-like character in early 50’s Manhattan_**
A picture editor for Life magazine (McGillis) loses her job in the Big Apple upon refusing to name names for the House Un-American Activities Committee. She then snoops around a German-speaking man with dubious immigration status, which draws the ire of the Committee's main Senate prosecutor (Mandy Patinkin) and the assistance of an amicable FBI agent (Jeff Daniels).
“The House on Carroll Street” (1988) is an old fashioned Hitchcockian crime drama/thriller in which an innocent person stumbles upon something nefarious involving shady government officials and the corresponding cover-up. The events take place four years after the start of the Cold War when the US Government wanted to secure a scientific lead over the Soviets. The pièce de résistance is a clash at Grand Central Station in the last act.
It plays like Indiana Jones during the early Cold War years, albeit with a female protagonist and less hamminess, although there’s some silliness in the bomb sequence (like people are going to casually joke around while a bomb’s about to explode). I like the irony of good citizens being smeared as evil and bad officials being presumed good. It’s a worthwhile period piece with definite points of interest, but somehow underwhelming. It needed a rewrite to flush out the potential.
The film only runs 1 hour, 41 minutes (as if it didn’t have the confidence to go longer), and was shot in Manhattan.
GRADE: B-… Expand
Orion PicturesUnited States of America
