On Dangerous Ground (1951)

On Dangerous Ground At Noir City D.C.

"On Dangerous Ground" (1951) is a provocative film noir that I had the opportunity to see at the annual Noir City, D.C. film festival at the AFI Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland. Film historian and scholar Foster Hirsch introduced the film, stressing how it remained controversial and provoked different responses in different viewers. He pointed out how the film made for good discussion and exchange of views. The film has a large theme as it explores loneliness.

Nicholas Ray directed "On Dangerous Ground" with an uncredited assist from Ida Lupino who also has an important role in the film. It stars Robert Ryan as Jim Wilson, a policeman in an unnamed large American city who is unmarried and lives alone. The film is unusual in that it is broken into two parts. The first part is set on the night streets of the city as Wilson, a veteran of eleven years, is tired and angry fighting thugs and crooks while also taking abuse from ordinary citizens. He takes his frustrations out on the job by using unnecessary force. Wilson's boss feels he needs a break and sends him on an assignment to a small rural area in the north to help solve a murder of a young girl. This story constitutes the second part of the film.

The shadowy, close, street photography of the first part of the film makes a marked contrast to the large mountains, prairies and empty spaces of the second part. In the second part, Wilson meets the angry father of the girl who has been murdered, Walter Brent (Ward Bond) and sets out to find the killer. The investigation leads the pair to the isolated rural home of a beautiful blind woman, Mary Malden (Ida Lupino) who lives with her brother. The killer is tracked down. In the process, the film suggests, Wilson finds through love a cure for his loneliness.

The film is enhanced by a beautiful, fitting musical score by Bernard Herrmann which changes with the location and with the activities on the screen. The cinematography of George Diskant is distinctive in capturing the night crime of the large city and the beauty of nature in rural America. In introducing the film, Foster Hirsch pointed out how people differed in response to the sudden shift in location and tone of the film and to the acting of Ida Lupino. He also pointed out that director Nicholas Ray was unhappy with the film and wanted it to have a different ending.

This was my first time seeing the film. It was unusual for film noir and yet within the themes and characteristics of the genre. The film might be sentimental and the ending rushed, but I think anyone who has been alone will understand and appreciate this film.

I have come to love film noir over the years and was grateful for the opportunity to see "On Dangerous Ground" in a beautiful theater and with an insightful introduction in the company of other lovers of this genre.

Robin Friedman