Saturday, June 9, 2012

ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952)


‘Sometime people who are never alone are the loneliest.’

Jim Wilson is an honest and tough cop working for eleven years in his service. His Achilles heal is his uncontrolled inner frustration and anger while dealing with criminals. Taking things easy is out of his character. Its dirty job and he’s the one taking it too personally, too psychologically as loner of his own world. Once his fellow officer warned him, “When I go home I don’t take this stuff with me, I leave it outside but the way you carry it around inside, you must like it. Maybe you think that’s make you good cop. The way you’re going, you won’t be good to anybody, not even yourself! Somebody had to tell you, to get anything out of this life; you gotta put something in it from the heart!’ It’s been two weeks since sergeant cop was murdered and his two suspected killers running free but as Wilson messing up with criminals his senior assigned him to investigate a murder case in far Siberia.

Nicholas Ray brilliantly entwined ambiguity of thrill and intensity of drama in the plot and execution where a loner cop playing volatile role between emotion and duty. He successfully transferred default dark city location of noir to snow clad icy peaks and hair pin bends. Both Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan delivered the characters torn between the worlds indifferent to them. Must to mention the thrilling score of Bernard Herrmann and gripping and well maintained pace in duration that runs less than one hour thirty minutes.

Recommended to all Noir fans.

Ratings-7.5/10  

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