On Dangerous Ground (1952)
Directed by Nicholas Ray, Ida Lupino

Film Review

Coming towards the end of a remarkable sequence of classic American film noir dramas directed by Nicholas Ray, On Dangerous Ground is too easily overlooked and too easily faulted for its somewhat uncomfortable mix of hardboiled noir thriller and sentimental melodrama, yet it is assuredly one of the most visually arresting and hauntingly poetic of all Ray's films.   An outstanding central performance from Robert Ryan, perfectly cast in one of those laconic, self-loathing roles that suit him so well, together with a heartrending turn from Ida Lupino (extraordinarily convincing as a blind woman) and a superbly expressive score by Bernard Herrmann, make this a rare example of a tough film noir with a genuine emotional core, one in which the emotionality is masterfully controlled and channelled to have a devastating impact.

It all begins as a pretty standard film noir, in a familiar urban setting with Ryan going out of his way to alienate his audience as the archetypal shoot 'em up cop (Dirty Harry two decades too early).  Imagine James Cagney at his most ostentatiously odious, with every last ounce of charm removed, and that is what Robert Ryan looks like as he goes about hunting criminals like a psychotic axeman with a bad head.  Ryan is so vile that even his superiors give up on him and he ends up being exiled to some God-forsaken wilderness Up North to flush out a vicious killer (the usual therapy for maverick cops).  And so, exactly one third of the way into the film, we are suddenly whisked out of our familiar noir urban landscape and deposited on what might well be the set of Doctor Zhivago.

A more dramatic change is in store for us when the misanthropic troll-cop sets foot in a lonely cottage and starts roughing up a blind Ida Lupino.  Of course, Ryan's first reaction when meeting the blind woman is to make it clear that she is obviously faking it.  But he soon realises his mistake and, his certainties well and truly shaken, he sees in Lupino someone he recognises, another soul tortured by solitude and disconnection from the world of men.  From this point on, it is clear how the film is going to pan out, and it is a testament both to Ray's genius as a director and the calibre of the two lead actors that what is essentially just a trite little melodrama proves to be something far deeper and far more moving - a portrait of a man disfigured by bitterness rediscovering his humanity, through contact with the one person in the world who has the power to change him for the better.

Nicholas Ray could never be described as a sentimentalist and he was reportedly deeply unhappy with the film's schmaltzy ending.  He would most likely  have preferred a more sombre conclusion, along the line of the one he magnificently crafted for his related earlier noir masterpiece In a Lonely Place (1950).  The ending that was foisted on Ray by his studio bosses is certainly the one that audiences would have expected and it does smack of sentimentality, but it is impossible to watch it and not be moved by its elegant simplicity and the jagged shards of humanity that cut through it.  And there is sufficient ambiguity in the way the last few scenes of the film are shot and presented to us that we can easily persuade ourselves (should we choose to do so) that the climactic meeting between the two main protagonists takes place only in their heads, a dream that can never be realised.  Far better though to believe that the happy ending is real.  Surely we can allow a film noir to end on an upbeat note, once in a while...?

Film Synopsis

Jim Wilson is a hard-bitten detective who has no qualms about using violence and underhand methods when it comes to dealing with the city's lowlife.  He may get results but his superiors disapprove of his thuggish behaviour and he ends up being assigned to investigate a murder in a sparsely populated rural district up north.  As he pursues the killer across open countryside he comes across a blind woman, Mary Malden, living seemingly alone in a solitary cottage.  Wilson soon discovers that the killer is Mary's deranged younger brother and promises Mary that he will come to no harm if she reveals his whereabouts.  It is not a promise that Jim is able to keep, but his encounter with Mary will change him forever...