Purely Joyful Movie!

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Nicholas Ray with an assist from Ida Lupino directed this offbeat noir where halfway in the story moves from the form's comfort zone of the metropolis to the great outdoors. The darkness that drives it remains however. Detective Joe Wilson (Robert Ryan) is experiencing burn out at an alarming rate. He gets results but brutalizes suspects in the process forcing his chief to farm him out to work on an ugly homicide case in the boondocks. There he encounters the rage filled mirror image (Ward Bond) of a grieving father while having to adopt different methodology in questioning a suspect's blind sister (Ida Lupino).On Dangerous Ground offers up the quintessional Ray protagonist in the alienated Wilson played with disturbing menace by Ryan. His chilling attempt to stay in check before exploding reeks with unglued intimidation. Bond and Lupino hold their own with Ryan in what is basically a three character film while director Ray maintains a steady pace that is powerfully informed by Bernard Hermann's re-lentless score.

When I turned this on, the music took me immediately to North By Northwest even though that film was considerably later than this one. The story behind this low budget film is interesting. It started with a solid a solid director and then changed directors which is what makes the film seem like 2 different movies. I can not be sure but I think Ida Lupino might have directed the second half.Lupino has more recognition as an actress but got into directing quite early on in her career. Though she is not credited here, it certainly reflects the change and was only about the 3rd film she directed. Later on she would direct several more films and a large amount of television.Robert Ryan does an incredible job as the real main role connecting the 2 halves. The music score by Bernard Herrmann is outstanding as always and adds much to the movie.

I still see those dark figures outlined against a bleak sky and snowy terrain, Ryan in his improbable city clothes and hat, plus Bond in his outdoor hunting gear. Only it's not deer they're chasing. Instead, the boy is climbing ever higher and higher above them. But that's only one arresting visual in a film full of gripping visuals, and taut emotions. In my 60-some years of movie addiction, this is one of the most memorable and thought provoking. From jittery urban opening to serene pastoral close, it's perhaps the most moving tale of humane redemption I've seen.And who better to play hardened city cop Wilson than the great Robert Ryan. Those beady black eyes are unforgiving whether smacking around a closed mouth hooker (Moore) or thumping on a masochistic thug (Irving). Maybe he's just doing his job, then again, maybe he's come to enjoy it. Whichever, he's one tough cop who's in trouble with the higher-ups for his too often brutal methods. But then, all he sees, as he grimly observes, are cheaters, criminals and low-lifes. Worse, the people he theoretically protects use the word 'cop' like it was a curse word. So, who wouldn't encase himself in reptilian skin in order deal with that world. But unlike his cop partners, who return home to a wife and family, Wilson returns only to athletic trophies that have long since lost meaning. In short, he's thoroughly alienated from others, whether he realizes it or not.Those city street scenes are grippingly staged in true noir fashion, underscoring the twilight world Wilson inhabits. The way director Ray films complements Wilson's predicament perfectly. And when the camera cuts away from the violence, we are almost made to feel the agony that follows.Note how Ray and co. use the many road shots to advance the story. Once Wilson's sent north to 'Siberia' (Colorado) as punishment, he travels inwardly into a different world of snowy mountains and open spaces. Still, he carries the city and his job with him. Only now, his assignment is specific: help catch the killer of a young girl, now fleeing across the snowscapes. Too bad Brent (Bond), the dead girl's dad, is no help. He snarls out 'city cop' like it's a curse word, just what Wilson needs. On the trail, the suspect's tracks lead to a cabin in the snowy wilderness, where it seems a strange woman lives. Note the warm fireplace when they enter, a promising relief from the alienating outdoors.This is a part tailor made for the soulful Lupino as Mary (note the name), who's blind and lives with her brother. But he's gone visiting, so she says. Betraying his deeply buried sensitivity, Wilson soon discerns her handicap though she says nothing about it. The uncaring Brent, however, storms about the house, intent only on finding his daughter's killer. In fact, Wilson must now confront someone more intense than himself; in short, Brent amounts to a rural version of the brutal Wilson, the city cop. And so begins the process of sensitizing Wilson to his own excesses and the needs of others. Lupino manages to keep her blind girl part from becoming too sticky. Director Ray has positioned cues about the house that help Mary navigate the surroundings, like the hanging twigs she touches in the fireplace room. As a result, we get the impression she can take care of herself despite the handicap. Still, she must now deal with an enraged Brent and a purposeful Wilson who've suddenly invaded her little world.The hardened city cop is now in a dilemma. It looks like Mary is hiding her brother, who in fact is the killer. At the same time, he wants to protect her from the overbearing Brent. This amounts to a new role for him, one that he has perhaps never experienced. In a sense, he has begun to perceive Mary's predicament through her handicapped eyes instead of his own. For he himself has been blind to others in a figurative way. But now he's learning there are other ways of seeing besides the visual.That scene of Mary opening the cellar door at dawn is a powerful one. Danny (Williams), her brother, cringes in shadow while behind her shines the newborn sun. If only she could convince him to go with Wilson, Danny would be safe. It's a near-religious moment, religious in a good sense that doesn't exaggerate. And when Wilson throws away Brent's rifle before he can possibly shoot Danny, we know the bad cop has at last been left behind. Still, it's surprising that once the conflict with Danny is over, Mary doesn't just fall into Wilson's now caring arms. But she's had her own little world too long to share it with a relative stranger. So they part for their separate worlds. Mary, riddled with grief; Wilson grappling with the changes as he travels the road back to the city. But this is not the end.Apparently Ray disliked the actual ending, saying he didn't believe in miracles. But the ending is not just superbly touching, but also quite appropriate. For both Mary and the city cop have managed to overcome the isolated worlds they too long dwelt in. To me, the movie is one of the grittiest, most moving, tales of redemption I've been lucky enough to catch.The production amounts to a happy collaboration among Hollywood's most talented movie makers— from producer Houseman (what would the movie be like without the expense of those real Colorado mountains?), to director Ray (with him, you don't just see the screen images, you feel them), to composer Herrmann (this he says is his best score and that includes the many with Hitchcock), to, of course, the luminescent pairing of Lupino and Ryan.Anyway, my words are only words. If you haven't seen the movie, please do. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

"On Dangerous Ground" is a powerful psychological drama about the loneliness and despair experienced by a police detective. The causes of his emotional state, the damaging effect it has on how he does his job and also the means by which his feelings of isolation and anguish are gradually eased, are all depicted with great skill and intensity and produce a very human story which illustrates the immense value of achieving a successful work/life balance.Whilst involved in a hunt for the killers of another police officer, detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) beats up a contact of the suspects and successfully elicits information which leads to the arrests of the culprits. Later, however, he's told by Captain Brawley (Ed Begley) that the lawyer who represents the man who he beat up is considering legal action over the level of brutality which his client suffered. Brawley advises Jim about the need to use a more proportionate amount of force in future but very soon after this warning another incident occurs where Jim again uses excessive violence. He is then told by Brawley that he's becoming a liability to the Department and as a consequence he gets assigned to assist in a murder case being investigated in an upstate rural community.When Jim arrives at his snow covered destination, the local Sheriff briefs him on the details of the case (which involve the murder of a young girl) and very soon they receive information which leads to both of them and the victim's father Walter Brent (Ward Bond) chasing the main suspect on foot. Later, when the fugitive steals a car, Jim and Walter continue their pursuit in another vehicle but their journey ends suddenly when they veer off the road and run into a ditch close to the suspect's car which had just crashed into a tree. They then follow his footprints which lead to a remote cabin where they meet Mary Malden (Ida Lupino). Mary is the blind sister of the mentally retarded murderer. She has a generous and gentle disposition and quickly recognises Jim's loneliness. Her main concern is the care of her brother and she conscripts Jim's assistance in trying to ensure that he's caught unharmed so that he can be given the kind of professional help that he so obviously needs. Meeting Mary eventually leads to the murderer being caught but also, more unexpectedly to Jim's life and temperament being profoundly affected in a way that he could never have imagined was possible.A striking feature of the film is the sharp contrast which is made between the two environments in which the action takes place. The city is presented as dark and threatening whereas the snowy countryside is depicted as more open, calm and almost pristine in appearance. These impressions are consistent with Jim's experiences, as working in the city had brought him into contact with every type of criminal imaginable and brutalised him in the process. The result was that this tough, honest and efficient cop had actually transformed into someone who was sadistic, bitter and on the verge of a breakdown. In the rural environment he became more even tempered so that when the volatile Walter Brent expressed his determination to personally kill the murderer, Jim found himself acting as a restraining force and an advocate of balance and reason.Jim's loneliness and the negative effects that his work had on him were exacerbated by his lack of personal relationships, an inability to socialise successfully and a failure to separate work from his personal life. His colleagues were family men with hobbies who could leave the strains of the job behind them whilst Jim, by contrast, found that the anguish of dealing with human garbage was something which he carried around with him all the time. When he met Mary, he responded to her warmth and kindness and achieved a level of contentment which he previously would've considered to be impossible.The work of Nicholas Ray (a director known for his sensitivity and compassion for his characters) and strong performances from Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino ultimately produced a movie which was unpretentious, memorable and sometimes also rather disturbing.