WHERE DANGER LIVES is another of the great classic Hollywood film noirs! Produced by Irving Cummings Jr.and Irwin Allen for RKO in 1950 it had a sturdy screenplay by Charles Bennet and splendid tight direction by John Farrow. It is one of the studio's better and most memorable noirs!
RKO head Howard Hughes' favourite star was Robert Mitchum and little wonder since all of his films were, by and large, very successful."Where Danger Lives" was no exception and alongside "Out of the Past" (aka. "Build My Gallows High" and containing Mitchum's finest performance) remains the best of the genre! Here in "Where Danger Lives" Mitchum heads a fine cast as a young doctor who unwittingly falls for one of his patients unaware she is somewhat psychotic ("I didn't fall for a woman - I fell for a patient"). In her first film appearance (taking over from Jane Greer ) Faith Domergue is excellent - if a little quirky and creepy - as the Femme Fatale. During their fleeting affair she lands Mitchum in a dangerous criminal predicament when she has him believe he has killed someone with a knockout punch (when he leaves the room to get some water it is she who suffocates the hapless victim with a cushion). On his return she persuades Mitchum that now the police will be after them for murder and they must flee. Believing her they go on the run and head for Mexico. The picture ends tragically in a shootout at the border.
A terrific little thriller with the stars in splendid form and in a movie that has lost none of its impact over the years. And watch out for a scene near the end of the picture where Mitchum falls down a staircase without the use of a stunt double. Mitchum clearly does the fall but ouch! It must have hurt! Others in the cast are the directors's wife Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Kemper and there's a wonderfully realised cameo by the great Claude Rains ("I wish you'd stop calling her my daughter, she happens to be my wife!"). Sharply photographed in black & white by Nicholas Musuraca the film also had an atmospheric score by Roy Webb. Webb was an interesting composer! He wrote in the style of Max Steiner without attaining that composer's hyperbole. Like Steiner he had a voluminous output, he composed over 200 scores mostly for RKO and Warner Bros. but he is best remembered for his noir scores at RKO in the 40's. His finest work in this regard is for "Out OF The Past" (1947) with its dark and melodic undertones and an attractive and lingering main theme. In the early sixties a house fire destroyed all his scores and unpublished works. After that he never composed again. He died in 1982 at the age of 94.
"Where Danger Lives" is a great movie and is one of the finest examples of the noir style of picture making. It also displays the long gone but not forgotten craftsmanship that was Hollywood's Golden Age!
RKO head Howard Hughes' favourite star was Robert Mitchum and little wonder since all of his films were, by and large, very successful."Where Danger Lives" was no exception and alongside "Out of the Past" (aka. "Build My Gallows High" and containing Mitchum's finest performance) remains the best of the genre! Here in "Where Danger Lives" Mitchum heads a fine cast as a young doctor who unwittingly falls for one of his patients unaware she is somewhat psychotic ("I didn't fall for a woman - I fell for a patient"). In her first film appearance (taking over from Jane Greer ) Faith Domergue is excellent - if a little quirky and creepy - as the Femme Fatale. During their fleeting affair she lands Mitchum in a dangerous criminal predicament when she has him believe he has killed someone with a knockout punch (when he leaves the room to get some water it is she who suffocates the hapless victim with a cushion). On his return she persuades Mitchum that now the police will be after them for murder and they must flee. Believing her they go on the run and head for Mexico. The picture ends tragically in a shootout at the border.
A terrific little thriller with the stars in splendid form and in a movie that has lost none of its impact over the years. And watch out for a scene near the end of the picture where Mitchum falls down a staircase without the use of a stunt double. Mitchum clearly does the fall but ouch! It must have hurt! Others in the cast are the directors's wife Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Kemper and there's a wonderfully realised cameo by the great Claude Rains ("I wish you'd stop calling her my daughter, she happens to be my wife!"). Sharply photographed in black & white by Nicholas Musuraca the film also had an atmospheric score by Roy Webb. Webb was an interesting composer! He wrote in the style of Max Steiner without attaining that composer's hyperbole. Like Steiner he had a voluminous output, he composed over 200 scores mostly for RKO and Warner Bros. but he is best remembered for his noir scores at RKO in the 40's. His finest work in this regard is for "Out OF The Past" (1947) with its dark and melodic undertones and an attractive and lingering main theme. In the early sixties a house fire destroyed all his scores and unpublished works. After that he never composed again. He died in 1982 at the age of 94.
"Where Danger Lives" is a great movie and is one of the finest examples of the noir style of picture making. It also displays the long gone but not forgotten craftsmanship that was Hollywood's Golden Age!