Man Afraid (1957)

Burglar FRANKIE breaks into a suburban home through MIKE's (7) bedroom window. The boy is asleep in his bed. Frankie stays in the bedroom after he realizes that the boy's PARENTS are awake in the next room. When Frankie opens a music box and music plays, Mike awakens and screams. Mike's mother LISA rushes into the room and finds Frankie trying to suffocate the boy with a pillow. She grabs at Frankie who whips her in the face with a rope. Mike's FATHER bursts into the room and struggles with Frankie. When the burglar brandishes a knife, Mike's Father hurls a solid glass snow globe at Frankie and hits him in the head. The burglar collapses.Later at the police station, police detective LT. MARTIN takes a statement from Mike's Father, who is the REVEREND DAVID COLLINS. When Martin reveals that Frankie died from the blow to the head, the Reverend is stunned. Lurking in the background is Frankie's father SIMMONS, a chain smoking, poverty stricken tailor with a limp. Outside the station, it is a media circus. The press hails the Reverend as a hero. The Reverend goes home to find a TV crew set up in his son's room. They are eager to reenact the crime. The Reverend orders them out of his house, Lisa's eyes were injured in the attack and she has been confined to bed with both of her eyes b