26 Feb The House on Telegraph Hill
The House on Telegraph Hill, WWII era movie starring Richard Basehart
(1951) When the war is over a concentration camp survivor assumes the identity of her best friend who has just died there. Her friend has a son who was smuggled to America to live with a wealthy aunt, and our heroine believes that this new identity will be her best chance to have a better life.
The House on Telegraph Hill was based on a 1948 novel by Mabel Dana Lyon, The Frightened Child. Erle Stanley Gardner reviewed the book and called it “a very fine nobel of suspense.” It was serialized in Harper’s Magazine that year.
Italian actress Valentina Cortese plays the Polish-born survivor of the camp, identified in the movie as “Belsen.” Her real name was Victoria but at the time of liberation, when she goes through a displaced persons’ camp, she took on the name of her friend, Karin.
As the story evolves, the two men in her life are played by Richard Basehart and William Lundigan. The actress Valentina and Basehart married in 1951, a union that lasted for nearly ten years, not bad for Hollywood.
The beautiful Victorian Mansion on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, “Julius’ Castle,” was used in the film. It was a well-known restaurant with incredible views that closed in 2008 and today is for sale.
There is very little about World War II in The House on Telegraph Hill, but it is an interesting tale with much suspense.
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
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