Synopsis
While vacationing at a lonely beach in Baja California, Doug Stilwin (Sullivan) gets his leg immobilised under a fallen piling. He is trapped below the high tide line…and the tide is coming in! Doug’s wife Helen (Stanwyck) and son Bobby (Aaker) cannot move the heavy piling. Helen drives back to a small gas station two hours distant to find help.
At the garage Helen meets Lawson (Meeker), a murderer who is being hunted by the Mexican police. Seeing a chance to escape, Lawson goes back to the beach with Helen but refuses to help her husband. The tide is rising rapidly, and Helen offers Lawson anything he wants if he will save Doug. Lawson agrees.
Using his ingenuity, Lawson get leverage and raises the piling. Helen drags Doug free. With the police coming, Helen offers to go with Lawson as she agreed. Lawson, who admires her bravery and undaunted loyalty, declines her offer, shakes her hand, and flees. Helen, tending to her husband, thinks about the choices a wife may be forced to make.
Discussion
Jeopardy is a tightly-focused, suspenseful drama featuring only four characters. The story alternates between Stanwyck and Sullivan's characters, who are both in constant peril. As time passes and the tide reaches higher around the trapped Doug, he and his young son face the peril together. Stanwyck, becoming more and more desperate to save her husband, is willing to offer the dangerous Lawson anything he wants. The rescue is dramatic, with an immersed Helen and Doug struggling in the waves. Working desperately, the three adults finally move the piling off Doug, who struggles ashore.
Unfortunately, the film concludes on a weak fourth act. After Doug has been saved, the main plot line has been completed. However, Lawson is still around, and Helen's promise to go with him is unresolved. Hardboiled Lawson suddenly goes soft and he runs away, leaving Helen with her family. In a voiceover coda, Helen muses about her choices during this distressing day. In her middle age, Barbara Stanwyck, one of the great stars of her time, retains her personal attraction and command of the screen. She puts over strongly the rising desperation of the beleaguered wife.
Director John Sturges specialized in action films that featured dramatic, tense and exciting situations, often featuring characters trapped in a hostile environment. His notable films in this genre include Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976).
Screenwriter Mel Dinelli adapted the script from the radio play A Question of Time, presented by CBS on Hollywood Star Playhouse in 1950. A surprise box office hit, Tension was the first film to be given nearly exclusive television advertising in some areas. Noting that attendance was better in markets with TV ads, producers credited the new medium with upping box office returns.