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.
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.