Wed 4 May 2016
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: CRY DANGER (1951).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[11] Comments
CRY DANGER. RKO, 1951. Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad, Regis Toomey, Jean Porter and Jay Adler. Written by William Bowers and Jerome Cady. Directed by Robert Parrish.
A tight, fast-moving and witty noir, done by folks who knew how to do it.
Dick Powell stars as Rocky Mulloy, just released after five years in prison for an armed robbery he didn’t do, freed when his alibi is belatedly substantiated by the rather suspect testimony of ex-Marine Delong (Erdman.) Actually, Delong thinks he’s guilty, but he’s angling to cut himself in for a share of the $100,000 still missing from the robbery.
Also involved, in ascending order of importance, are Regis Toomey as Cobb, a dull cop who still thinks Rocky’s guilty but figures he can shake things up by tailing him around town; Castro (William Conrad) the Gang Boss who engineered the heist but kept his hands clean, and Rhonda Fleming as Nancy, an ex-love of Rocky’s now married to his buddy Danny, who is still serving time for the caper.
Now that he’s out, Rocky hopes to clear his own name and that of his friend Danny, and maybe even get a cut of the loot to repay himself for the five years in stir. To this end, he and his new friend Delong move into a trailer court — a wonderful blend of location and studio work that seems really tacky in the way only a 1950s trailer court could — as a base for their operations while Rocky begins following up the loose ends left dangling for five years: the widow of the Security Guard who identified him, Castro’s involvement, and just how innocent his old buddy Danny really was.
By this time in his career, Powell had mastered the cool, hard-boiled, faintly mocking persona that had been his stock-in-Spade since Murder My Sweet (1944) and Writer Bowers (Criss-Cross, The Web, The Law and Jake Wade, etc.) gives him plenty of laconic dialogue to deal out, which he does with perfect deadpan comic timing.
There’s some debate over whether this was directed by Parrish or Powell — both have some fine films to their credit — but whoever did it captured a nice feel for that post-war early 1950s ambiance, evoking atmosphere without letting the pace flag for a minute. Additionally, Cry Danger achieves a moment of some depth and emotional complexity, which I’ll preface with a
SPOILER ALERT! It will come as small surprise to noir buffs that Nancy turns out to be playing a double game, hoping to keep the loot and get Rocky back into her larcenous arms, but we get a nifty spin on it here when Rocky uses her love for him to get her to betray herself. All through the scene we can see him leading her on and hating himself for it, see him crushing his feelings under his own heel, and finally walking away, officially innocent, free and very alone. A fine and unusual moment, written and played to perfection. END OF SPOILER ALERT.
Along the way to this remarkable ending we get a full quota of twists, turns, rough stuff and the kind of tough guys and deadly dames they just don’t make anymore — if they ever did.
May 4th, 2016 at 11:29 pm
I enjoyed this movie. Two highlights, among several, were William Conrad’s sleazy crime boss performance, and the even sleazier trailer park Powell and his new buddy move into. Plus the two girls already living there, of course.
May 5th, 2016 at 2:19 am
I thought the trailer park setting was a nice touch, especially in the daytime scenes. Sunbaked noir at its best
May 5th, 2016 at 9:05 am
Rhonda Fleming has stated publicly that Dick Powell directed Cry Danger. Speculation has ended.
May 5th, 2016 at 11:40 am
Jean Porter has reportedly been quoted as saying the same thing.
Fans of this movie, and would-be fans, if you haven’t seen it yet, may also enjoy this long review at Classic Flix:
http://classicflix.com/Cry-Danger-FullFledged-Noir-Classic-r-1128.html
May 5th, 2016 at 3:16 pm
It’s much more a Powell film than Parrish, so I would not be surprised if Parrish let him direct. The Director’s Guild could be touchy about credits so Parrish may have gotten credit whether he wanted it or not.
This tightly written well directed and acted film is the least of the major Powell noirs, which says a lot about the quality of the others. JOHNNY O’CLOCK is the only one I would rate below it, and it’s still a damn good noir film.
I first saw this back in the sixties on television and the trailer park setting, that scene with Fleming, and Conrad’s bad guy stuck with me until I saw it again as an adult in my thirties, and all of it is held together by Powell’s wry performance as a guy with a grudge who is fighting not to be played as a pawn by everyone around him including the cops.
May 5th, 2016 at 3:38 pm
Robert Parrish was never in a position to ‘let Dick Powell direct”. Powell let Parrish do some things.
May 5th, 2016 at 3:49 pm
You was there, Barry?
May 5th, 2016 at 4:32 pm
No, of course not. Jean and Rhonda tell the story along with their mutual resume’s.
May 5th, 2016 at 8:23 pm
Pretty sure I’ve seen this, but I’ll watch it again this weekend.
May 7th, 2016 at 3:35 pm
Cry Danger was Robert Parrish’s first directorial credit and after an editorial career. Contrary to the Cahiers Du Cinema crowd, all directors are not auteurs, nor do they dominate senior stars, or producers. Which goes to Parrish allowing Powell ‘anything’. Not the way life works.
May 7th, 2016 at 9:25 pm
Okay, I’m only a third of the way into this dynamite flick and loving every minute. Obviously, Bill Conrad is supposed to be Mickey Cohen. (ice cream parlor reference).
See ya ta the final turn.