Cry Danger (1951)

Worthy 1950's noir

Filmed in an art decoish 1950's Los Angeles, "Cry Danger" starring a smooth Dick Powell was an entertaining film noir near classic. Powell playing ex-bookie Rocky Mulloy had just been released from a five year stint in prison on a trumped up charge that he and a friend committed an armed robbery.

Powell was released on what turned out to be bogus evidence by liquor swilling, wooden legged ex-Marine Delong played by a caustic and wisecracking Richard Erdman. Powell shacked up with Erdman in his trailer park but was being tailed by determined cop Lt. Cobb played by Regis Toomey. Toomey believed that Powell would eventually try to recover the yet undiscovered stolen funds.

The cat and mouse gamed being played was obscured by the amorous advances of ex-Powell love interest Nancy played by the attractive Rhonda Fleming who was married to Powell's purported partner in crime. Powell trying to prove his innocence threatened a hoodlum named Louie Castro played by a svelter William Conrad, whom he believed to be the mastermind of the crime.

Powell with his life imperilled and being hounded by Toomey eventually figures out what happened in a surprising twist at the conclusion of this short but sweet film. January 21, 2007

"He's got a real purty mouth, ain't he?"

As an American boy growing up on the outskirts of France, I sometimes longed for the simple sound of a motor engine, for days would pass by without any of us seeing or spotting a car. As it happens we were within two kilometers of one of France's great highways, but in our little corners of la foret, there was never a motor to be seen. Dick Powell's resonant 1951 CRY DANGER, with its haunting mise-en-scene, a crowded trailer camp somehow squeezed into a downtown Los Angeles lot, takes one back to the day when framed men bent the law to get out of jail, then broke the law to get back in, all in the name of justice. Fifty thousand smackers in hot money, that's a lot of motivation!

As everyone knows, crooner Dick Powell pulled off one of the most amazing second acts in American film, swinging his Busby Berkeley light tenor and amiable grin and going for the downbeat in the immediate postwar era, bruied and knocked up as an often sadistic, heartless tough guy. In CRY DANGER he blends characteristics from both his public personae, one from Column A, one from Column B. His lovesick puppydog act might have some right out of one of his Ruby Keeler movies, but beating the tar out of fat boy William Conrad you could almost feel his sex excitement as he forces him to lie on his back on his own desk, his feet in the air. If he had had Deliverance style sex with this frightened piglet I wouldn't have been surprised. After all, he's just come out of a six year stretch in jail, and Conrad's the man who put him there.

I've never seen a Rhonda Fleming picture, and I must say she's nothing special here. She's just weird because of the trailer set up, and how all her windows are too high and her door too low, but otherwise she dresses like Jane Wyatt in FATHER KNOWS BEST, and her little home on wheels boasts LADIES HOME JOURNAL touches everywhere. Is it just me or did anybody figure out how the bad guys managed to fool Dick Powell into placing that bet with the phony bookie? When he takes the Lieutenant back to the deli to prove his innocence, how did they manage to make the entire stockroom disappear? Threw me for a loop, it did.

As everyone agrees, Richard Erdman steals the show as the hero Marine with only one leg whose twisted mind hatches a fantastic scheme of release, redemption and alcohol abuse. Watching him you think of some modern actor like Philip Seymour Hoffman or William Macy. He's so naturalistic he disappears into the part, he just is who the script has him be. November 25, 2006

Entertaining Crime Noir

Another great example of Dick Powell in a film noir, Cry Danger looks at crime after the trial. Rocky Mulloy (Powell) has been released from his life sentence after five years in prison thanks to false testimony given by a stranger (Richard Erdman). The crime? A major robbery that resulted in the death of a police officer. Although Rocky was pinned with the crime, he did not commit it, but he knows who did. As a free man, he attempts to find proof that could clear his name completely, put the right people away, and possibly get his friend out on parole. Helping him is his friend's wife (Rhonda Fleming), the woman he was supposed to marry.

This is an interesting film from start to finish. Powell gives a wonderful performance as a good guy tangled in with the wrong people who has his own amount of greed. He carries the film well.

Unfortunately, this print isn't in the best condition. It seems as if there were no attempt to restore it to its original state. There are plenty of scratches throughout, however not large enough to distract too much. September 11, 2006

Good. solid 1950s Noir.

"Cry Danger" is an interesting, twisting and turning noir film. What the viewer sees is not necessarily what (s)he gets! As CD opens, Dick Powell has just been released after 5 years in the Cooler. He had been framed for robbery and murder. He is determined to nail the rat that framed him and to clear his unseen buddy, Danny, for the same crime. The Law, in the person of a cynical detective, Regis Toomey, is just waiting for Powell to mess up. Toomey would be perfectly happy to send DP back to Stir. The mug who set Powell up is a smarmy, slimy nightclub owner, William Conrad. True to form, the corrupt Conrad tries to frame DP all over again, this time through a fixed horse race. Is a woman involved? There certainly is, in the form of a homey Rhonda Fleming. Such a nice girl! She was Powell's girlfriend, but married the mysterious Danny instead. This recap will end here so as not to reveal the startling but satisfying resolution. Most viewers will be taken by surprise! Someone is not who they appear to be! The truth about Danny is also revealed. It's hard not to like CD. One has to root for Powell, a WW2 Vet framed for a crime he didn't commit, trying to straighten out his life and help a pal at the same time. The LA trailer park setting is picture perfect and with a 79 minute run time, no one will be bored. It's so hard to believe that the gritty Powell was once a song and dance man! CD is a perfectly safe choice for noir fans and filmed in appropriately gloomy black and white. Highly recommended! October 14, 2005

Noir in Transition

Second-rate noir, made curiously memorable by atmospheric LA locations, a sardonic Richard Erdman, and a good look at history's ugliest car--the 1950 Nash 4-door sedan, an inverted bathtub cleverly disguised as a passenger vehicle.

At the top of the list are the principal players, led by a usually capable Dick Powell who's supposed to be a hardened ex-con, but whose clean-cut looks and Brooks Brothers suit instead suggest nothing more menacing than an insurance company executive. He's got the tough guy patter down, but somebody should have spoken to wardrobe and make-up. Then there's the well-scrubbed Rhonda Fleming, the femme fatale, who nevertheless dresses and simpers with all the girlish flair and sensuality of Andy Hardy's highschool prom date. Even criminal mastermind William Conrad, with a voice resonant enough to intimidate God, spends his main screen time pancaked on the floor, looking sweatily up at Powell. Together, the three are about as convincing as a politician at election time, leaving a hole in the picture where a heartbeat ought to be.

The main reason to catch this otherwise tepid concoction is Richard Erdman. Hollywood has always had its share of raw talents who, because of obvious physical limitations, are left to work the fringes. The diminutive, dough-faced Erdman is one. Here, he not only steals the show with sly expressions and cleverly delivered lines, but wraps it up and takes it home. His well-scripted byplay with chippie girlfriend Jean Porter even manages to breathe some life into the otherwise listless pairing of Powell and Fleming. Here's hoping there is that proverbial place in Hollywood heaven for unsung talents like Erdman and the other anonymous credit crawl names who boost many a film beyond the merely forgettable.

Fortunately there are some nice minor touches. A seedy downtown trailer-park atop Bunker Hill furnishes an unusual backdrop and a good view of LA at mid-century. There's also Hy Averback's energized bookie, Joan Banks' mature vamping, Jay Adler's bad ukele playing, and that quietly inspired moment when alcoholic Erdman casts aside nourishing food and milk for yet one more drink and the dipso ward.

Nonetheless, the loosening of classic noir standards is evidenced here by an absence of conflict between light and shadow and by a moral universe beginning to harden and stabilize, especially around Powell's unconflicted personality. Stylistically, this is a film about transitions-- the darkly volatile 1940's are giving way to the sunnier, more assured Eisenhower era. So, if you're not expecting much in the way of noir, you might take a chance on this one, despite the key drawbacks. August 28, 2005

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