On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Country: US
Technical: bw 82m
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Ward Bond, Ed Begley
Synopsis:
A cop living alone finds the job getting him down and becomes increasingly violent in the exercise of his duties. Sent on a case out of town by his Captain, he pursues a suspect and meets the blind sister, whose tolerance leads him to reassess his unforgiving view of human nature.
Review:
A film with several points of interest: it deals with the subject of loneliness (similarly to In a Lonely Place), a rarity for the entertainment factory; it has an unsympathetic 'bad cop' as its protagonist; and the case features a killing of a young girl by a lunatic with a knife. The structure too is unusual: the out-of-town narrative is only introduced after considerable time is devoted to the backstory and at the end the main character appears to return to the city with little changed. One suspects that the unconvincing last-minute return to Lupino's house for a clinch was imposed by RKO due to concern about so gloomy a film. Herrmann provides plenty of atmosphere, including one phrase he uses at length in the score for North by Northwest. Stylistically the film has one of the first ancestors of the steadicam shot, as Ryan begins pursuit of a heavy beating up the girl informant.
Country: US
Technical: bw 82m
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Ward Bond, Ed Begley
Synopsis:
A cop living alone finds the job getting him down and becomes increasingly violent in the exercise of his duties. Sent on a case out of town by his Captain, he pursues a suspect and meets the blind sister, whose tolerance leads him to reassess his unforgiving view of human nature.
Review:
A film with several points of interest: it deals with the subject of loneliness (similarly to In a Lonely Place), a rarity for the entertainment factory; it has an unsympathetic 'bad cop' as its protagonist; and the case features a killing of a young girl by a lunatic with a knife. The structure too is unusual: the out-of-town narrative is only introduced after considerable time is devoted to the backstory and at the end the main character appears to return to the city with little changed. One suspects that the unconvincing last-minute return to Lupino's house for a clinch was imposed by RKO due to concern about so gloomy a film. Herrmann provides plenty of atmosphere, including one phrase he uses at length in the score for North by Northwest. Stylistically the film has one of the first ancestors of the steadicam shot, as Ryan begins pursuit of a heavy beating up the girl informant.
Country: US
Technical: bw 82m
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Ward Bond, Ed Begley
Synopsis:
A cop living alone finds the job getting him down and becomes increasingly violent in the exercise of his duties. Sent on a case out of town by his Captain, he pursues a suspect and meets the blind sister, whose tolerance leads him to reassess his unforgiving view of human nature.
Review:
A film with several points of interest: it deals with the subject of loneliness (similarly to In a Lonely Place), a rarity for the entertainment factory; it has an unsympathetic 'bad cop' as its protagonist; and the case features a killing of a young girl by a lunatic with a knife. The structure too is unusual: the out-of-town narrative is only introduced after considerable time is devoted to the backstory and at the end the main character appears to return to the city with little changed. One suspects that the unconvincing last-minute return to Lupino's house for a clinch was imposed by RKO due to concern about so gloomy a film. Herrmann provides plenty of atmosphere, including one phrase he uses at length in the score for North by Northwest. Stylistically the film has one of the first ancestors of the steadicam shot, as Ryan begins pursuit of a heavy beating up the girl informant.