Directed by William Wyler and written by Joseph Hayes and Jay Dratler, it was based on Hayes’ novel and stage play. That play had Paul Newman in the lead, but Humphrey Bogart was a much bigger star for the movie.

The story is based on the Hill family of Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania. On September 11 and 12, 1952,. they were held hostage for 19 hours. Hayes’ storyline was invented and didn’t take everything from the Hill family’s experience. However, Life magazine published an article that had the actors from the play — Newman, Karl Malden and Nancy Coleman — in the actual Hill home. The family sued Time, Inc. over this as they had been trying to stay out of the public eye. They also believed that the article falsely described the actual events while claiming it represented the truth. Mr. Hill told the press that his family had been treated well during the crime while the article said that the family was assaulted. They were rewarded with compensatory damages.

Glenn Griffin (Bogart), his younger sibling Hal (Dewey Martin) and Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton) have broken out of jail and are on the run. They hide out at the home of the Hilliard family, which is Daniel (Frederic March), Ellie (Martha Scott), Cindy (Mary Murphy) and Ralphy (Richard Eyer). Plus, you get Arthur Kennedy as a deputy sheriff who has to figure this all out.

They create a terror-filled situation not just for the family but for the entire neighborhood, killing a garbageman (Walter Baldwin) and Glenn decimating the suburban dream. The exterior of the house is the same from Leave It to Beaver and here’s Bogart, in his last role as a bad guy — he said, “I’m too old to play gangsters.” — and his next-to-last movie making life horrifying for everyone around him.

Glenn and Daniel have the same problems as fathers — well, older brother and father — and yet they come from different worlds. The idea of a home invasion movie remains frightening even today. Imagine how it felt in the post-war 1950s.

Arrow’s blu ray release of Desperate Hours has a brand new restoration by Arrow Films from a 6K scan of the original VistaVision negative. It features extras like a new audio commentary by film historian Daniel Kremer, several appreciations of the film, a new audio interview with Catherine Wyler, daughter of director William Wyler, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio, an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Philip Kemp and Neil Sinyard and even a lobby card gallery.

You can get this from MVD.