The Shadow on the Window

In the 1950’s, the breakdown of the traditional family led to child trauma, kidnapping, and murder, according to William Asher’s The Shadow on the Window, in which Leave it to Beaver (quite literally, in the form of little Jerry Mathers) meets home invasion noir. Philip Carey stars as Detective Sergeant Tony Atlas, whose estranged wife Linda (Betty Garrett in a thankless role) has gone missing, the only clue to her whereabouts their little son Petey (Mathers) who was brought to the police station in a catatonic state, having witnessed something traumatic involving his mother. There’s no mystery for the viewers, however, since we know from the start that Linda’s being held captive in a strange house by three young thugs. The sole film of cinematographer Carson and sole serious film of director Asher (his handful of other films contained “Bikini” in the title), The Shadow on the Window nevertheless obtains a respectable noir status, especially whenever the camera leaves the house at night. The thugs are played by three lesser-known but interesting actors: John Barrymore, scion of Hollywood royalty, plays the aggressive, homicidal Jess Reber; Corey Allen, who plays the restless Gil Ramsey, would go on to a brilliant performance in Leslie Stevens’s unique and memorable Private Property (1960); finally, the compassionate Joey Gomez is played by Gerald Sarracini, who was murdered by a single sucker punch to the head on Christmas Eve in New York while starring in a Broadway play just weeks after this film’s release (the assailant was a random laborer who didn’t like the way Sarracini spoke to him).