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On Dangerous Ground

  • 19511951
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Trailer for this black and white classic
Play trailer2:11
1 Video
26 Photos
  • Drama
  • Film-Noir

Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.

IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7K
YOUR RATING
  • Directors
    • Nicholas Ray
    • Ida Lupino(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • A.I. Bezzerides(screen play)
    • Nicholas Ray(based on an adaptation of the novel)
    • Gerald Butler(novel "Mad With Much Heart")
  • Stars
    • Ida Lupino
    • Robert Ryan
    • Ward Bond
Top credits
  • Directors
    • Nicholas Ray
    • Ida Lupino(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • A.I. Bezzerides(screen play)
    • Nicholas Ray(based on an adaptation of the novel)
    • Gerald Butler(novel "Mad With Much Heart")
  • Stars
    • Ida Lupino
    • Robert Ryan
    • Ward Bond
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 115User reviews
    • 59Critic reviews
    • 78Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    On Dangerous Ground
    Trailer 2:11
    On Dangerous Ground

    Photos26

    Ward Bond, Ida Lupino, and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Robert Ryan and Nita Talbot in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ward Bond and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Olive Carey, Ida Lupino, and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Olive Carey and Patricia Prest in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Anthony Ross and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ida Lupino in On Dangerous Ground (1951)
    Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground (1951)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ida Lupino
    Ida Lupino
    • Mary Maldenas Mary Malden
    Robert Ryan
    Robert Ryan
    • Jim Wilsonas Jim Wilson
    Ward Bond
    Ward Bond
    • Walter Brentas Walter Brent
    Charles Kemper
    Charles Kemper
    • Pop Dalyas Pop Daly
    Anthony Ross
    Anthony Ross
    • Pete Santosas Pete Santos
    Ed Begley
    Ed Begley
    • Capt. Brawleyas Capt. Brawley
    Ian Wolfe
    Ian Wolfe
    • Sheriff Carreyas Sheriff Carrey
    Sumner Williams
    Sumner Williams
    • Danny Maldenas Danny Malden
    Gus Schilling
    Gus Schilling
    • Luckyas Lucky
    Frank Ferguson
    Frank Ferguson
    • Willowsas Willows
    Cleo Moore
    Cleo Moore
    • Myrna Bowersas Myrna Bowers
    Olive Carey
    Olive Carey
    • Mrs. Brentas Mrs. Brent
    Richard Irving
    • Bernie Tuckeras Bernie Tucker
    Patricia Prest
    • Julie Brentas Julie Brent
    • (as Pat Prest)
    Roy Alexander
    • Town Residentas Town Resident
    • (uncredited)
    Frank Arnold
    • Manas Man
    • (uncredited)
    Vince Barnett
    Vince Barnett
    • Georgeas George
    • (uncredited)
    Leslie Bennett
    • Newsboyas Newsboy
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Nicholas Ray
      • Ida Lupino(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • A.I. Bezzerides(screen play) (based on an adaptation of the novel)
      • Nicholas Ray(based on an adaptation of the novel)
      • Gerald Butler(novel "Mad With Much Heart")
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Hard, withdrawn city cop Jim Wilson roughs up one too many suspects and is sent upstate to help investigate the murder of a young girl in the winter countryside. There he meets Mary Malden, whom he finds attractive and independent. However, Mary's brother is chief suspect in the killing. And Mary herself is blind. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
    • murder
    • revenge
    • based on novel
    • shoulder holster
    • shoulder
    • 62 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • A Woman With an Empty Heart...A Man With a Loaded Gun whose only chaperon was MURDER!
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • Film-Noir
    • Certificate
      • Approved
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ida Lupino directed the film for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.
    • Goofs
      After Ward Bond knocks the lamp over, starting a fire, Ida Lupino brings a lantern from the kitchen and places it on the end table where the lamp had been. A few minutes later however, when she brings the tea tray, the table is on its side and Robert Ryan hurries to right it before she trips on it.
    • Quotes

      Jim Wilson: Why do you make me do it? You know you're gonna talk! I'm gonna make you talk! I always make you punks talk! Why do you do it? Why?

    • Connections
      Featured in Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1992)
    • Soundtracks
      Danceland Jive
      (uncredited)

      Music by Roy Webb and Gene Rose

    User reviews115

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Garbage, all we handle is garbage.
    On Dangerous Ground is directed by Nicholas Ray and stars Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan & Ward Bond. It's loosely adapted by Ray and A. I. Bezzerides from Gerald Butler's novel Mad With Much Heart. Cinematography is by George E. Diskant & the music is provided by Bernard Herrmann & Paul Sawtell. The story concerns Ryan's weary, lonely and psychologically bothered cop, Jim Wilson. Who after finally snapping the patience of his superiors is sent to Westham in the rural north to aid a murder case there. The idea is to get him off the streets he's so bitter about and to stop him finally going over the violence tinged edge. It's here, amongst the wintry landscapes, that he is brought into contact with Mary Malden (Lupino). A practically blind woman, Mary holds all the keys to the mystery and to the door at the end of Wilson's journey.

    Right from the outset we are in no doubt that Nicholas Ray is about to take us on a noir journey. Herrmann's pulse like score accompanies its nighttime opening, Diskant's photography immediately painting a harsh city where life on the streets is tough. A place where loneliness can eat away at the soul and bleakness pours down off of the bars and the cheaply built apartments. It is in short, firmly encapsulating of Jim Wilson's bitterness and frame of mind. Wilson, once a prime athlete, is mired in solitude, his only telling contribution to society is his work, but that is ebbing away by the day. His mood is not helped by his partners, Pop & Pete, who can easily switch off once their shift has finished - but they have family to go home to, Wilson does not. Wilson's only source of joy comes courtesy of the paperboy he briefly plays football with out on the street (a rare ray of light in the film's moody atmospheric first half).

    Then the film shifts for its second act, a shift that has made On Dangerous Ground a most divisive picture in discussions over the years. Sent north to effectively cool down by Captain Brawley (Ed Begley), we find Wilson leaving behind the dank city and entering the snowbound countryside in the north. Dark has become light as it were. The whole style and pace of the film has changed, yet this is still a place tainted by badness. A girl has been murdered and Wilson is still here to locate potential evil. An evil that the murdered girls father (Ward Bond as Walter Brent) wants to snuff out with his own vengeful fury. As the two men track down the killer, Wilson sees much of himself in Brent's anger, but once the guys arrive at Mary Malden's isolated cabin, things shift just a little more.

    Said to be a favourite of Martin Scorsese, and an influence for Taxi Driver, On Dangerous Ground has often been called Nicholas Ray's best film by some of his fans (I'd say In A Lonely Place personally). Odd then that Ray himself wasn't happy with the film, calling it a failure and not the finished product he had envisaged. Ray had wanted a three structured movie, not the two part one it is; with the final third being far bleaker and more noirish than the one we actually get. However, and the ending is a bit scratchy for the genre it sits in, it's still a fabulous film that is more about the journey of its protagonist than the diversity caused by its finale. Ryan is terrific, a real powerhouse and believable performance, while Lupino beautifully realises Mary's serene impact on Wilson and the counter opposite to the darkness within the picture. It's a given really, but Herrmann's score is potent, listen out for the opening, the crossover section from city to countryside and the rock face pursuit. While Ray directs with his customary knack of blending the grim with the almost poetic. 8/10
    helpful•29
    2
    • hitchcockthelegend
    • Jan 10, 2010

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 12, 1952 (Brazil)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Dark Highway
    • Filming locations
      • Granby, Colorado, USA
    • Production company
      • RKO Radio Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 22 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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