Cry Danger, a Dick Powell vehicle from RKO, is a flaccid affair with no tension and labored humor. Powell plays ‘Rocky’ Malloy, a guy with a past just released from a life stretch after 5 years in the can, thanks to the better-late-than-never testimony of a vet with a wooden leg and a drink problem. Back in LA he shacks up in a trailer park to shake down the hood that framed him. A novel twist at the end can’t save the show.
Rookie director Robert Parrish is to blame: the pacing is sluggish and you keep waiting for something to happen. There is no atmosphere and it all plays out like a too long second-rate 50s TV police drama. A sorry example of how not to make a noir. Powell and Rhonda Fleming, as the love interest, are wasted, as is DP Joe Biroc, who never really gets a chance to insinuate some LA darkness into the mix. The promise of the opening scene when we see Powell arriving by train is never realised after being immediately negated by the absurd use of rear-screen projection shots for scenes outside the railway station. There is a noirish shot of Powell entering a bar at night, but it is all technique and no soul.
Overrated and dull.
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Hi! Tony,
I guess that I’am going to have to rewatch this film and even “re-evaluate” it after reading your hold-no-bar… very honest and straightforward review or look at the 1951 film…Cry Danger.
Thanks, for sharing,
DeeDee ;)
I agree with you on this one. Has a better reputation than it deserves. It seems with the popularity of noir increasing every year that people are trying to propel substandard works into a more elevated position. This film kept popping up on my radar the last few years. I heard and read many noir enthusiasts praising Cry Danger. I found the overall worth of the film to be lacking.
The problem with this review is that the author evalutes the film on how it didn’t meet a genre that wasn’t widely defined at the time the film was made. The categorization of films considered to be “film noir” has largely been done in retrospect. Is there any evidence that director Parrish ever intended to make “Cry Danger” as anything other than as one of the crime dramas that were so popular at the time? Today some classify it as noir and some don’t. Hey, if one doesn’t like it they just don’t like it and that’s fine. It’s not for everyone. I find it a lot of fun to watch–the dialogue cracks me up. For me it’s a great example of an enjoyable low budget movie of the time.
Thanks LB for your comment. I am arguing with the view (expressed by others such as Eddie Muller and Foster Hirsch) that it is a film noir. My critique is not based so much on a lack of ‘noirness’ but on the movie’s cinematic weaknesses.
Hi! Tony…
Believe it or not there are 10 additional authors that agree with authors Eddie Muller and Foster Hirsch when it comes to classifying the 1951 film Cry Danger as a film noir…Just follow the link below…
The Complete Consensus Film Noir List
Cont…
…On a personal note…I don’t think it’s a matter of what both authors Eddie [Muller] and [Foster] Hirsch, think…(Well, it do, but not as much…)
Well, as much as it seems a “consensus” have been reached that the 1951 film Cry Danger is considered a film noir.
(Which of course mean that you don’t have to agree with this consensus neither…I’am just pointing out that several film noir aficionados and novices alike think that this film fit into the category of a film noir.)
I have also reached the conclusion that Cry Danger is or should be considered a film noir. Because it appears to have some Of the “key” elements.
For instance, a person over there on yahoo used the following word to describe the elements of film noir…
“Film noir emerged from a time of political instability and war (WWII and The Cold War) and so very much the underlying themes portrayed in film noir are those that reflected the mood of that time: repressed insecurity; paranoia and suspicion.The setting is usually a rainy, poorly lit, crime infested city filled with tension, constant danger, dread, anxiety and mysterious goings on…”
Once again, on a personal note, I feel that some of these elements are presence in the 1951 film Cry Danger starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming.
However, I have to disagree with the commenter and say that I think film noir emerged long before WWII and The Cold War.
Cont…
By the way, how very apropos…that my first post would be under your review of the film Cry Danger
Because I plan to donate a lobby card that feature actors Dick Powell, William Conrad, Regis Toomey and actress Rhonda Fleming, to the FNF later this week.
I can’t hardly, wait for the film to be released on DVD with authors Eddie Muller and/or Foster Hirsch’s commentary.
Tony, nice new Diggs! After I recovered from my initial shock! of your dark background being replaced with a white background…I reached the conclusion that you, want to “shine a light” on the dark world of…film noir.
Thanks, or as the French would say…Merci Beaucoup!
DeeDee :wink: :smile:
Tony, here goes a Pdf version with larger print…
Film noir consensus 2010
It appears that…
Panorama of American Film Noir 1941-1953 (Translated by Hammond, ’02)…is the only author/book that agree that the [Powell/Fleming] vehicle isn’t a film noir.
Welcome back DeeDee. Long-time no see. Thanks for your comment. Thanks also for your feedback on the new theme.
Firstly, I didn’t say it wasn’t noir. The subheading was “about as noir as white coffee” – diluted noir – elements of noir in the script but the gestalt is lacking – no punch.
PS: Raymond Borde and Étienne Chaumeton, the authors of Panorama of American Film Noir 1941-1953 (published 1955), most likely hadn’t seen Cry Danger.