One of my all time favorites.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Down to earth, real life visit to the side of life less traveled also known as film noir. What happens in the world of film noir everyone can relate to. Its raw, exciting, real life and has you asking how to get out of a predicament just like it had you wanting to get into it. Excellent movie that starts out slow but for a reason so relax and don't be impatient! The beginning becomes clear in the end. Excellent acting and story-line that when it kicks into gear keeps you there and won't let go. I like movies that have you asking yourself "what would you have done" and then play itself out letting you see the choice the writers made. There is a scene where Robert Mitchum starts to figure things out but at a cost. Listen closely as he has dialog that makes the whole story make sense down the line. You also get to see another good cliché at work and acted out to perfection in this film: "be careful what you ask for cause you may just get it" as well as the principal of wanting and needing a second chance. Nice little goody-gem of a flick. Imagine back then how people would go catch a movie with a date or friends, popcorn and coke and get treated to a couple of features of this quality. That's a nice night out. I like to eat while watching and this is a good sandwich movie with a tasty drink plus a snack of choice especially when the action kicks in. To me, Robert Mitchum could do no acting wrong. I read his biography and he was a yahoo anything goes anti-establishment type of guy. He never got the rebel under control but he managed to make it make a living for him. I thought he went too far in his book but it is his life to do with as he pleases. He most certainly did! The title of his book said it all: Baby I Don't Care

Where Danger Lives is directed by John Farrow and written by Charles Bennett. It stars Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains and Maureen O'Sullivan. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca. Upon tending to attempted suicide victim Margo Lannington (Domergue), Dr. Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) falls in love with her and quickly finds his life spiralling out of control. Classic noir fable here, which begs the question on why is it not better known? More so when you consider it stars noir icon and legend Robert Mitchum? OK! Big Mitch never once convinces as a life saving doctor, but for a sad sap heavy eyed portrayal who you gonna call? Why Mitch of course. Thus the pic actually gets away with this odd bit of character casting, as it does the average performance from the otherwise lovely Domergue. Domergue was being pushed forward as Howard Hughes' latest siren of the screen, she would never attain great status, but she would grace many a "B" picture and become a cult fan favourite. Dr. Cameron has it all, a great job and a pretty nurse (O'Sullivan) who loves him very much, but one peer into the puppy dog eyes of Margo Lannington and he's in hook, line and sinker. Film essentially turns into a lovers on the lam story as the two lovers head for the border after leaving the scene of a crime. As the journey progresses and gets ever more perilous, Margo begins to show erratic behaviour, while Jeff is struggling badly with a concussion that grows evermore acute. They meet an assortment of odd or unsavoury characters, a low life car dealer, weasel pawn broker, shyster club owner, the latter of which is currently airing a rather bizarre cabaret show. They stop over in a noirville town where it's "Whisker Week", a backwater place where you are required to traditionally sport face fuzz on this particular week. Not only that but Margo and Jeff, minus whiskers and in confused states, end up being coerced into a bonkers marriage ceremony. It's all deliciously off kilter, the characterisations and situations marrying up deftly with Margo and Jeff's mental disintegration. Farrow adds his own directorial flourishes to the edgy mix, and Musuraca's photography is consistently gorgeous. All told it's as safe as noir houses for those of such noirish peccadilloes. 7.5/10

This peculiar excursion is skillfully shot by Nick Musuraca in the dark black and white nature of the genre in its era, and is capably helmed by John Farrow, who fruitfully captures these delirious visions. It's by and large a character study of an accomplished man blinded by lust, whose life disintegrates as it falls behind him. Mitchum is the guiltless man who is entrapped, but doesn't understand he's innocent until quite late. Too late? Only the will to live in spite of being so far out of his comfort zone and his senses can save him from this interesting spin on the framed-for-murder predisposition of the formula.Mitchum, as was his modus operandi, once again put on airs of sleepy-eyed detachment and barrel-chested reserve, but in this case, he is interesting and sympathetic, realistically showing how a smart guy and such an experienced doctor could be in such a weak position. He genuinely and believably connects to the emotional and sensory reality of his bewildered character, whose feelings and senses are constantly in flux. Likewise, director John Farrow effectively taps the outlandish, hallucinatory traits in this customary noir plot: Mitchum spends the last half of the film barreling down the dirt roads of southern California with a concussion, fainting cyclically and awakening enclosed by some of the murkiest landscape the U.S. has to present.Yes, Mitchum is cast against type as a stable professional, but actually, I think Faith Domergue is equally if not more accountable for the lack of artifice in Mitchum's performance than he is. From moment to moment, and this is most definitely a movie that lives in the present, she genuinely affects him. They're not just saying lines at one another, overlapping their words and movements with some programmed, bottled manner. The sultry, manic, hard-bitten, shifty-eyed edge is real. What's more, Claude Rains as always is superb, in a small role but a pretty important one, where his every motion looks to be controlled over a maniacal wrath all set to gush out, best illustrated by his malicious grin while meeting his wife's lover. And the film's a pleasingly bizarre screwball streak further sets it apart as a unique entry in the film noir canon.

Legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-1997) is perhaps best known for his work in the film noir genre, including classics like Out of the Past (1947) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). The 1950 road movie Where Danger Lives, directed by John Farrow, is not bad either, even though it does not fully reach the atmosphere and tension of the very best noirs out there.The plot follows the traditional noir pattern (a man reluctantly facing increasing adversities and paranoia under a woman's influence) rather faithfully. A well-liked but not very well-off doctor named Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) helps to save the life of a beautiful female patient named Margo Lannington (Faith Domergue) after her suicide attempt. She invites him to her home to thank him and the two quickly fall in love, but she appears to have many secrets, starting with the man she introduces as her father (the great Claude Rains). After an unfortunate accident, Jeff finds himself and Margo heading towards Mexico while on the run from the law and a crippling head injury slowly eating away his ability to think and act clearly.The plot itself provides no major surprises; instead, the special touch of the movie comes from the effect of Cameron's concussion which causes him to perceive everything more or less hazily. Mitchum always had a certain "sleepy" look to his face in the first place, but this extra twist makes him come across as a borderline sleepwalker, a style that I am not sure I like even though it is justified in the context of the story. The performance of Domergue as the femme fatale Margo is pretty good though; she shows decent range growing from worried to controlling and ultimately desperate, even though the big revelation regarding her past doesn't feel highly convincing. Many of the supporting actors do good jobs as well, such as Tol Avery as a shady car salesman "Honest Hal" and Philip Van Zandt as a touring cabaret show manager and human trafficker Milo DeLong.What I think is the biggest flaw in an otherwise adequate movie is the lack of tightening tension and paranoid atmosphere, the staples of film noir. Jeff and Margo encounter numerous cops who inadvertently cause great stress especially to him, but somehow the uneasy atmosphere is not conveyed to the audience as powerfully as in many other films – probably due to the alienation caused by Jeff's head injury that Mitchum portrays so relentlessly. The dramatic finale is the only scene where the suspense becomes truly concrete, although many earlier parts are entertaining in a different way, for example the "Wild West Whiskers Week" festival in a small Arizona town.Notwithstanding my complaints above, in the end I liked Where Danger Lives alright. The creeping sickness approach brings an interesting aspect to the storytelling, even if it also hurts the mood at points. The camera work and the black and white visuals are fine too, so noir fans have few reasons to not check the movie out. At only 82 minutes it is perfectly watchable for more casual film buffs as well.