A man's castle in a sunny Indianapolis suburb becomes the hideout for three desperate escaped convicts, and the well-ordered, complacent existence of an American family is deeply threatened. One hopes that father knows best, but father (Fredric March) realistically is terrified. William Wyler's expert suspense thriller (in its tame way a precurser to Blue Velvet) peers into the shattered souls of decent folks who come up against dark forces in a crazy mirror: the three thugs are another kind of family in their midst, with Humphrey Bogart, miserable and snarling in a reprise of his Petrified Forest gig, playing Svengali to a confused kid brother and a trigger-happy, moronic "Eddie Haskell." Joseph Hayes' script (from his novel and play) presents a crime-melodrama treatment of a classic sci-fi theme of the fifties, the battle to protect our way of life against alien intruders. But Hayes, Wyler and cinematographer Lee Garmes conspire to keep the horror internal when faith in Dad's omniscience cracks, Mom suddenly can't rule the roost, and Big Sister, happily on her way out, becomes trapped once again in the family net.