On Dangerous Ground (1951)

(On Cable TV, December 2020) Film noir takes a trip to the country for crime and romance in director Nicholas Ray’s On Dangerous Ground. Robert Ryan stars as a burnt out suspect-punching New York City cop who, in the film’s opening segment, gets reprimanded by being sent upstate to cool off and help an ongoing murder investigation. The second portion of the film is a contrast in more ways than one, as the rainy nighttime visuals are replaced by the serene beauty of snowy farmlands and our policeman anti-hero gets to interact with people who aren’t necessarily the scum of the Earth. This is where he meets a beautiful blind woman (the ever-striking Ida Lupino), for whom he falls despite her brother being his prime suspect. It all escalates into a climax that’s both predictable and satisfying within the confines of the film’s sense of right and wrong – romance gradually creeping up on the criminal arc and acting as the true resolution of the film. It’s quite an unusual blend despite its familiarity – noir in the snow and eventually replaced by romantic redemption. But that’s the magic of Ray as a director – make us believe in dubious material, and somehow wrapping it up in a coherent package.

(Second viewing, On Cable TV, August 2022) I can’t help but feel that there are two movies glued together in On Dangerous Ground, and the filmmakers should have made a choice as to which approach they liked better. The first act of the film, needlessly long considering what follows, seems to be a much gritter-than-usual film noir following a rotting cop in a harsh city. Our protagonist (an adequate Robert Ryan) is a policeman who is reaching his breaking point dealing with urban scum—after a far-too-rough interrogation, he is told to get out of town, to take in the fresh country air and deal with something simple before he turns hollow, bitter and violent. The case he’s assigned takes him to wide-open spaces and a remote house where he meets a blind woman (the always-breathtaking Ida Lupino). Interrogation blends with romance as the two spend time together and there’s clearly a secret she’s trying to protect. This is the second film that’s battling it out with the cynical first act—a more measured romantic thriller with two characters warily approaching together, always aware that there’s an external force preventing them from getting too close. The contrast between dark streets and snowy fields is clearly intentional but not smoothed over, giving rise to the strong impression that the final film is not the one that was promised by its first act. (There’s some evidence that Lupino directed some of the film when Ray fell ill, but not for long enough to clearly influence the film—the original plan was Ray’s all along.)  I both like and dislike the two halves of On Dangerous Ground—there’s a provocative contrast, a nice inversion of roles, a visual distinction from darkness to light (plus a blind woman!) that makes for an unusual noir. But I don’t think that the two sections are sufficiently balanced, that the latter is introduced well enough, or that the most has been obtained from the juxtaposition. However imperfect, though, On Dangerous Ground remains a recommendation for the film noir aficionado—it’s different enough to be interesting, and it’s hard to go wrong with Ray and Lupino.