On Dangerous Ground (1952)

Director:

Nicholas Ray
(more)

Writers:

A.I. Bezzerides (screenplay)
A.I. Bezzerides (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 June 1952 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

In One Strange Night she met both LOVE ... and MURDER!

Plot:

Hard, withdrawn city cop Jim Wilson roughs up one too many suspects and is sent upstate to help investigate...

Plot Keywords:

Snow | Redemption | Car Accident | Blind Woman | Blindness

Cast

Ida Lupino	...	Mary Malden
Robert Ryan	...	Jim Wilson
Ward Bond	...	Walter Brent
Charles Kemper	...	Pop Daly
Anthony Ross	...	Pete Santos
Ed Begley	...	Capt. Brawley
Ian Wolfe	...	Sheriff Carrey
Sumner Williams	...	Danny Malden
Gus Schilling	...	Lucky
Frank Ferguson	...	Willows
Cleo Moore	...	Myrna Bowers
Olive Carey	...	Mrs. Brent
Richard Irving	...	Bernie Tucker
Patricia Prest	...	Julie Brent (as Pat Prest)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Arnold	...	Man (uncredited)
Vince Barnett	...	George the Waiter (uncredited)
Leslie Bennett	...	Sgt. Wendell (uncredited)
A.I. Bezzerides	...	Gatos (uncredited)
Eddie Borden	...	Man (uncredited)
William Challee	...	Thug (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin	...	Doc Hyman (uncredited)
Joe Devlin	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Homer Dickenson	...	Man (uncredited)
Don Dillaway	...	Man (uncredited)
Jim Drum	...	Stretcher bearer (uncredited)
Art Dupuis	...	Man (uncredited)
Budd Fine	...	Man (uncredited)
Dee Garner	...	Boy (uncredited)
Ronnie Garner	...	Boy (uncredited)
Tommy Gosser	...	Boy (uncredited)
Bill Hammond	...	Fred (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Man (uncredited)
Kate Drain Lawson	...	Woman (uncredited)
Ruth Lee	...	Helen (uncredited)
Al Murphy	...	Man (uncredited)
William J. O'Brien	...	Hotel clerk (uncredited)
Nestor Paiva	...	Bagganierri, the News Vendor (uncredited)
Eugene Persson	...	Boy (uncredited)
Stephen Roberts	...	Charlie (uncredited)
Tracey Roberts	...	Peggy Santos (uncredited)
Vera Stokes	...	Mother (uncredited)
Nita Talbot	...	Woman in bar (uncredited)
Joan Taylor	...	Hazel (uncredited)
Ken Terrell	...	Crook (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey	...	Man in Restaurant (uncredited)
Harry Joel Weiss	...	Boy (uncredited)
Esther Zeitlin	...	Woman (uncredited)

Directed by
Nicholas Ray
Ida Lupino		(uncredited)

Writing credits
A.I. Bezzerides		(screenplay)
A.I. Bezzerides		(adaptation) and
Nicholas Ray		(adaptation)
Gerald Butler		(novel "Mad with Much Heart")

Produced by
John Houseman	....	producer
Sid Rogell	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Bernard Herrmann
Paul Sawtell		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
George E. Diskant		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Roland Gross

Art Direction by
Ralph Berger
Albert S. D'Agostino

Set Decoration by
Harley Miller
Darrell Silvera

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist
Larry Germain	....	hair stylist

Sound Department
Phil Brigandi	....	sound
Clem Portman	....	sound

Special Effects by
Harold E. Stine	....	special effects (as Harold Stine)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
Virginia Majewski	....	musician: viola d'amour
Bernard Herrmann	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Silver Screen (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Dark Highway (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:A (1951) (cut) | USA:Approved (certificate #14508) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Grand Lake, Colorado, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Ida Lupino directed the film for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Jim Wilson delivers Tucker to the police station and then walks away, shadows of people are cast on him (among them, someone wearing a hat), although in the next shot the street is totally empty.

Quotes:

Jim Wilson: Why do you make me do it? You know you're gonna talk! I'm gonna make you talk! I always make you punks talk! Why do you do it? Why?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Best of Film Noir (1999) (V)

Nicely Crafted.

The first half is noir. Ryan is an embittered cop with violent tendencies, even exceeding those of his comrades. A bit too much of the old ultra violence and he's sent "upstate to Siberia" for a rest, seconded to a rural sheriff trying to find a young murderer. The second half stands in stark contrast to the first. In the course of the chase across snow mountains he meets and falls for Ida Lupino, the blind sister of the perp.

It's not really a crime story but a story about character development, mainly Robert Ryan's. There's little violence in it. But there is a great deal of sadness -- well, loneliness, really, and effectively conveyed by Nick Ray. The man who trusts nobody meets the woman who has to trust everybody. He comes back to her at the end, one of the few good ideas he's had. He's going to turn from the beady eyed monster of the city's streets (all shot at night) into a human being caring for another human being, breathing fresh mountain air. It's going to be difficult but it will work out okay.

Bernard Hermann's score, like the movie, is bifurcated. The chase scenes give us a melody and rythm that he would recycle and use in several science fiction movies and in "North By Northwest." But he lavishes his considerable talents on a simple yet beautiful theme associated with Ida Lupino. (We first hear it when Ryan and Ward Bond break in on her and she sits in a chair.) The lead instrument is a viola da gamba played by Virginia Majewski. The viola is a strange instrument, like an overgrown mutated violin played under the chin. It doesn't have the sparkle of the violin. Nobody's going to play "The Flight of the Bumblebee" on it. But it's tone is dark and rich, like Lupino's character, like the relationship between her and Ryan.

What a neat simple black and white movie. It doesn't shred your mind. It moves along and asks you to move with it, the way Ryan treats Lupino. Very humanistic, very appealing.