A lot of fun.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The first must-see film of the year.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

(Flash Review)Sharing many similarities to Hitchcock's Suspicion as well as Notorious, this was a beautifully shot film about a woman who assumes the identity of a friend who died while they were both in a NAZI concentration camp. The deceased woman had a son who inherited a large wealth of money from a death in the family. The imposter woman plays the role of mother, believable as the true mother was away for many years, along with trustees who live in the house caring for the boy who never met the true mother. Various parties jockey for the family wealth in a manner of ways, creating much distrust and suspicion. There are many good tense moments, clues to uncover and plot surprises. Well- paced, well-edited and smart cinematography with great rich black & white film stock.

When a Polish war refugee (Valentina Cortesa) takes on a false identity to get out of a displaced person's camp after World War II ends, she gets a cushy life, but that life may be in jeopardy! You see, that new life involves the estate of a wealthy San Francisco matron, now deceased, and when Cortesa marries the guardian of her late friend's young son, she piles on the intrigue as she begins to suspect that he (Richard Basehart) and their housekeeper (Fay Baker) are trying to kill her.The house on Telegraph Hill is a spooky old San Francisco mansion that looks as if it survived the 1906 earthquake that devastated the rest of the city, but has begun to die a slow death. Cortesa may be guilty of identity theft, but her crime is minor compared to what she finds herself up against. William Lundigan plays the estate lawyer enamored of the seemingly hard as nails Cortesa, who is a nice choice being relatively unknown to American film audiences when this was made. Shots of the streets of San Francisco (especially in a scene where Cortesa's car breaks fail her) are exciting. Baker, as a more glamorous Mrs. Danvers type character, is appropriately unemotional. Basehart is both charming and non-committal, so the attitude of "Are they or aren't they?" prevails throughout.There are, of course, similarities to "Rebecca", "Gaslight" and 1950's "No Man of Her Own", but this one successfully stands up on its own.

How'd we get in the mess we're in? We ignored films such as The House on Telegraph Hill and when we did see them, we forgot about them, or else we figured, 'awww, that's only in the movies'.Yeah. Right. Where'd Chandler get the ideas for his detective thrillers? From the newspapers, that's where. From life.This is a classic case of art imitating life. It's all here. The mansion, the poisonings, the phones left conveniently off the hook, and most tellingly, most tediously, as the crime syndicate known as "The Zecchino Estate Grifters" proved time and again, the predator always paints himself as The Victim and tars those whom he targets as The Villains. That they pull this tiresome old gag is one thing, but that people who should know better still fall for it is enough to...well, it's enough to make you understand why they still pull it, isn't it? Why innovate when last year's stale old gags work?The House on Telegraph Hill is an explicit Black & White blueprint as to the ways in which conniving, gutless, termites will kill anyone who stands between them and the riches they covet. It's also a fine object lesson in the ways in which, despite their endless repertoire of half-clever tricks, they inevitably they make fatal mistakes which topple them fall into the traps they so carefully set for others.Richard Basehart makes you want to bash his face, in The House on Telegraph Hill. He lies, he poses, he snivels and whines like a psychopath and plays The Victim at every turn. He falsely accuses his victims of trying to harm him. He follows his intended victims and turns up in front of them, every time they try to summon help.There's just something about his behavior that makes you want to bash his face, it's so bloody tediously predictable. Were this film set in our era, why I bet he'd even apply for a Restraining Order against his victims, and then sue them for Defamation, wouldn't he?Richard Basehart's character is waging war,a war against those who rightly inherit. It's war and he knows it. Eventually, his lovely intended victim knows it as well and rather than bash his face - which is just what he wants - she uses her mind to alert trusted friends and as well to restrain herself in face of his endless provocations.Why's she do that? So that in coming straight for her, he unintentionally falls straight into the trap he set for her. Sweet. Doubtless, he's convicted and sentenced to death.Mmm, mmm, mmm....can't you just hear the pellets dropping into the acid vat beneath the chair, and smell the gas, as he rocks back and forth in that nice round steel room they have up at Q known as, 'The Gas Chamber', the place to which all two-bit connivers who covet what belongs to others will inevitably go?A magnificent film which should be an integral part of the syllabus of every criminal justice curriculum.Paul Vincent ZecchinoCritic of Critical MassManasota Key, Florida24 April, 2011

This movie begins a little like William Irish's aka Cornell Woolrich's " I married a dead man " (the novel was released well before Leisen's movie ,in 1948),the concentration camps replacing the derailment:and then a poor girl becomes an impostor in a wealthy family;then after introducing a Rebeccaesque governess,the story takes a divergent turn ,recalling sometimes "gaslight" "suspicion" (the glass of orange juice replacing the glass of milk) and "sudden fear" which would be released the following year.That said,the movie is good,suspenseful,sometimes excellent and shows how great Robert Wise is as a director when he creates a disturbing atmosphere in an old house;he would take his skill to its absolute perfection with "the haunting" (1963) IMHO the best movie ever made about a haunted house (the remake should be carefully avoided);his talent emerges here and there: the playhouse where a wall is missing,the branch behind the curtain,the shadow on Valentina Cortese's white dress in the garage and the picture of the late old lady who seems like a judge beyond the grave ;her expressive face seems to have changed in the last pictures .Best performance comes from Richard Baseheart who shines in his last minutes on screen and the rest of the cast rises to the occasion.