On Dangerous Ground (1951)

Thanks for the memories!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Police detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) is tired of the city. He is deteriorating and starts beating up suspects. Capt. Brawley sends him upstate to investigate the murder of a young girl. He joins the father of the girl Walter Brent who only wants revenge in a manhunt. They pursue him to an isolated home and visually impaired Mary Malden (Ida Lupino). While Walter goes looking for the killer, Mary tells Jim that she lives with her brother Danny and he's been away for the last 2 days. She suspects Danny and begs Jim to take him in alive.I love the mix of noir and hard-boiled crime drama in this movie. It starts off with a urban city police drama. Then it transitions into an austere isolated thriller. I like the car drive where the landscape literally transitions. The cross current of motivations in that lonely home is intense. The wrap-up after the climax does run on too long. Director Nicholas Ray wanted a shorter darker ending but studio interference does add a clunky happy ending.

Lovely is not a word I would normally use when describing a film noir, yet here I am, labeling On Dangerous Ground as a lovely piece of work. It is perhaps Nicholas Ray's most upbeat movie, beginning as a hard- hitting cop story and ending on a heartwarming note, with renewal and hopefulness at its beck and call. It is the only tender film noir I've seen. Genre turnarounds can be hurtful to the tone of a film, as no one wants to go to the theaters for a Will Ferrell vehicle only to find it sinking into tragedy rather than an uproariously funny closer. But by tying the pessimistic atmosphere of the first act into the neuroses of the title character, the shift in On Dangerous Ground is largely flattering, a difficult feat that Ray pulls off with unwavering certainty. He believes in the story, and, as a result, so do we. Robert Ryan portrays Jim Wilson, a worn-out detective who is growing increasingly intolerant towards the disreputable scum he deals with on a regular basis. In past film noirs, cops as violent as Wilson would eventually go as far as murdering someone, spending the rest of the movie trying to make their wrongs into rights. But in On Dangerous Ground, it immediately becomes evident that Wilson is capable of saintly good nature but has been pushed over the edge by the constant surrounding sleaze. After beating up a number of suspects during arrest, his precinct grows concerned and sends him away to the outskirts of town to investigate the murder of a young woman. Upon arrival, he finds a reflection of himself in the hateful family of the victim, and, during the investigation, falls for Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), the blind sister of the prime suspect who serves as a ray of light in his jet-black life. In theory, On Dangerous Ground should be clunky and awkward; yet, it is kind of brilliant. It looks and feels like a film noir, but that's only a disguise for the more touching instances of psychological study. Everything is presented in such a nonchalant, nearly conventional manner that the power it eventually bears is unexpectedly poignant. Only Ray could direct this sort of material; most do not have the same curious capacity to switch from the hard-boiled to the humane.The contrast between the slick city streets and the snowy grounds of the more evangelical countryside are competently histrionic. As Wilson enters the fresh, cool landscape, a tidal wave of reversal falls upon us. In the first few minutes of the film, as we watch Wilson fight crime with boorish tenacity, the streets so usually enthralling in film noir turn into something uncomfortably grimy and greasy. Crime is like a horde of ants crawling up and down our arms. The countryside, though still the setting of a murder, has a comforting tranquility. Without people scattered in every nook and cranny, there is a chance to breathe. The entrance of Lupino is reminiscent to that of an angel falling out the sky; with no eyesight, she is unable to see the vile underpinnings of the world. Her kindness is a gift.As Wilson's life converts from direly violent to one of prospect, there is something stirring that occurs that softened me more than I ever would have thought possible. In film noir, we're used to endless acerbity; it is rare that a character, a policeman who seems so destined to head down a dark path, is given a second chance. Throughout his career, Ryan was mostly typecast as a villain with a booming voice, but in On Dangerous Ground he is given a chance to be expressive and sensitive. It is a surprisingly wistful performance, connecting with ease towards the delicate, soul-baring Lupino.On Dangerous Ground has been pushed aside as a minor work from the illustrious Nicholas Ray (The Big Heat, Rebel Without a Cause), but it's nevertheless shimmering all these years later. Its audacious attempts to subvert the norms of such a specific genre are absorbingly moving.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

A solid, character-driven film noir with some great location photography, ON DANGEROUS GROUND proves to be a fitting addition to an overloaded genre. This is a film of two halves, starting out as a typically tough, two-fisted detective story about a cop with a penchant for violence (played well by Robert Ryan). Around the halfway mark, the action shifts to the icy, wintry, countryside (shades of both FARGO and INSOMNIA here) and the pursuit of a killer.ON DANGEROUS GROUND is blessed with a decent script and some solid performances from both Ryan as the incredibly tough lead and Ida Lupino as the blind woman who might well hold the secret to the killer's identity. Lupino is on particularly strong form here, putting across her character's fragility mixed with a particular toughness all of her own. The cinematography is very good, with some great chases in the snow, and Bernard Herrmann's score only adds to the experience.

Jim Wilson is a tough, cynical cop, who doesn't trust anybody.This gets him in trouble a few times.Then he is sent up north to find the killer of a young girl.The girl's father, Walter Brent, wants to kill the guy.The case leads Jim to a blind woman, Mary Malden, the sister of the fugitive.On Dangerous Ground (1952) is directed by Nicholas Ray.Bernard Hermann is behind the great score.Robert Ryan is a perfect man to play Jim Wilson.Ida Lupino is marvelous as Mary Malden.Ward Bond is superb as Walter Brent.Charles Kemper is terrific as Pop Daly.Anthony Ross is great as Pete Santos.Ed Begley does excellent job as Capt. Brawley.The movie has lots of scenes that make this a film-noir classic.One is where Jim beats Bernie so that he could betray his partners.And when Jim starts roughing up a thug.It's just a fantastic scene where Jim and Walter follow the car on the icy road.This movie is not your typical film-noir.It deals with matters like loneliness.So it doesn't give you only thrills, it also touches.