Événement

NOIR CITY 19: They Tried to Warn Us! ON DANGEROUS GROUND

1:00
ON DANGEROUS GROUND
1952, RKO [Warner Bros.] 82 minutes
Screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides, based on the novel Made with Much Heart by Gerald Butler
Produced by John Houseman
Directed by Nicholas Ray

Big-city cop Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan), embittered by his job, has become a ticking time bomb. Aware that Wilson's unhinged brutality is a lawsuit waiting to happen, his boss sends him to a snowy upstate town to cool off. There, Wilson meets Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), a sage blind woman who sees through his cynicism and vitriol. But before she can melt his defenses, a young girl is found murdered, and Wilson throws himself into the vengeful manhunt for the killer. Ryan and Lupino give powerhouse performances in this unusually structured film, ingeniously and aggressively directed by Nicholas Ray. Half of it takes place in the nocturnal city, the other half in blinding white snowscapes; notions of natural and human duality abound. Featuring brilliant cinematography by George Diskant and one of Bernard Herrmann's most distinctive scores, which plays up the film's themes through an astounding juxtaposition of propulsive brass and wistful strings.

CAST: Robert Ryan (Jim Wilson), Ida Lupino (Mary Malden), Ward Bond (Walter Brent), Charles Kemper (Pop Daly), Ed Begley (Capt. Brawley), Anthony Ross (Pete Santos), Ian Wolfe (Sheriff Carrey), Sumner Williams (Danny Malden), Cleo Moore (Myrna Bowers), Olive Carey (Mrs. Brent), Frank Ferguson (Willows), Richard Irving (Bernie Tucker), Patricia Prest (Julie Brent), A. I. Bezzerides (Gatos)

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