Todd Wiener writes:
In his directorial debut, former editor Robert Parrish skillfully illuminates screenwriter Bill Bowers’ equally acerbic and droll Cry Danger into an underappreciated noir gem.

Even though this Jerome Cady story was originally purchased by Humphrey Bogart’s Santana Pictures, the film ended up being the only release by Olympic Productions. The tersely pitch-perfect Dick Powell portrays protagonist ex-convict Rocky Mulloy who returns to Los Angeles to find the gang that framed him for a crime he did not commit. Aided by a hard-drinking, crippled ex-marine (brilliantly realized by Richard Erdman), Mulloy sets up home-base at a Bunker Hill trailer camp that is home to his ex-girlfriend Nancy, played by the graceful Rhonda Fleming. Fleming, who was on loan from David O. Selznick’s company for this project, underwent an emergency appendectomy that initially held up the film’s very tight twenty-two day shooting schedule.

Dick Powell had already transitioned comfortably to crime dramas with the likes of Murder, My Sweet and Pitfall to name a few. The stand out performance here belongs to his cohort Erdman. The New York Times noted that the film had “sardonic lines that are tossed off most effectively by a young actor named Richard Erdman, who has been around Hollywood since 1943—just waiting for the right chance, no doubt. Cry Danger gives it to Mr. Erdman and he makes the most of it…” Jean Porter, wife of frequent noir director Edward Dmytryk, is also a standout delight as one of the several downtown Los Angeles denizens adding the equally amusing and seedy local color.

The film premiered and opened in San Francisco with Fleming scheduled to attend; unfortunately the actress’ father died and it wasn’t until years later that she finally saw the film and now considers it one of her favorites. Preservation partner and Film Noir Foundation President Eddie Muller calls it a “crackerjack crime film—short, smart, sassy, and full of surprises.”

1.31GB | 1 h 19 min | 784×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/BBD12A821382EE2/Cry_Danger_(1951)_BDRip.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Robert Parrish – Cry Danger (1951) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
A mysterious artist – and psychopath – named Ronnie Mason, steals a dead woman’s wedding ring and money and leaves a fake suicide note. The woman’s husband, Thomas Turner, when questioned by the local police, believes his dead wife might have been seeing Mason behind his back. He also believes his wife was murdered, but in the absence of other evidence, the police list it as a suicide and drop the case.

Mason leaves town, changes his name to Marsh and, using a limp he acquired jumping from the dead woman’s bedroom window and a veteran’s pin he steals from a fellow passenger on the L.A. bus, passes himself off as a wounded soldier and rents a room in the house of public stenographer Hilda Fenchurch and her younger sister Anne

1.33GB | 1 h 17 min | 720×540 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/0980B15EC4B766F/Danger_Signal-1945-WAC_morph_DVDRip__Guild55__ILC_.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Robert Florey – Danger Signal (1945) first appeared on Cinema of the World.