This Week (July 29th-August 4th) in 1954…
On Friday, July 30th, the film noir Pushover was released, starring Fred MacMurry, Philip Carey, and Kim Novak. In this Richard Quine film, Police officer Paul Sheridan (MacMurray) is on the hunt for $200,000 stolen during a bank robbery. Part of their job is surveillance on Lona McLane (Novak) who is dating one of the robbers. Problems start when Sheridan falls for Lona, who develops a plan for their escape when she learns he’s a cop…
Hitchcock’s suspenseful Rear Window was released on August 1st, staring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Wendell Corey. Photograph L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries (Stewart) breaks his leg and is confined to his apartment and is using a wheelchair. He passes his time by watching his neighbors who are keeping their windows open to fight a heat wave. It’s then that he starts noticing something is awry with one of his neighbors…
Two days later, on August 3rd, About Mrs. Leslie saw general release. This film shows Mrs. Leslie, played by Shirley Booth, reflecting on her life, as a cafe entertainer and her involvment with George Leslie.
Two films were released the following day, Wednesday the 4th:
Magnificient Obsesion, starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, a romantic flick directed by DOuglas Sirk. Hudson plays a spoiled playboy named Bob Merrick. He causes himself no end of trouble when he loses control of his speed boat…
The other film released was The Raid, set during the Civil War and starring Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, and Lee Marvin. Heflin, also known as radio’s Philip Marlow for four years starting in 1947, played Major Neal BEnton in this film set in a Union prison at Plattsburg, New York.