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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb classic, June 20, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Cry Danger [VHS] (VHS Tape)
If you enjoy witty dialogue and a tight, fast-paced detective-film noir genre story, with excellent performances by top stars, *THIS* is your movie. Dick Powell is in top form again (and he's always great!) playing the part of Rocky Mulloy, a bookie who has just been released from prison after serving five years of a life term for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's determined to find out who framed him - and to find the missing $100,000 he was supposed to have stolen. Nobody wants him to re-open the case, and a cop who is convinced he's guilty is watching his every move, waiting for a slip up that will give him a chance to send Rocky back to prison. The man who gave him the alibi that got him released from prison shows up and adds a major surprise twist to the story. Although Powell isn't a detective per se, as he was in the equally great "Murder, My Sweet" (another wonderful classic must-have for fans of detective noir films), he has a plan to find out who framed him and why. But then the shooting starts and things get complicated... William Conrad is superb (if you remember him from the TV detective series "Cannon" or "Jake and the Fat Man," you may be surprised by his appearance and role in this film). Also great: the cop who's hot on Rocky/Powell's trail; the mysterious Marine; the blowsy blonde of questionable morals; and the beautiful Rhonda Fleming as Nancy, Rocky's former girlfriend who is now married to Rocky's best friend, the same best friend who went to prison with Rocky for the same crime but who comes up for parole in six months. This film is full of unexpected twists and has a great surprise ending. The brilliant dialogue crackles with understated humor. If you enjoyed "The Maltese Falcon" you'll love this one - and you'll want to watch it again and again, just to savor the great lines and the superb performances. Definitely an underrated must-have for fans of this genre. And even if you're not a fan, give this movie a try -- it'll make you a fan.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sorely Underappreciated Masterpiece of Atmospheric Noir, June 1, 2005
This review is from: Cry Danger [VHS] (VHS Tape)
From my review of the film on the IMDB...
An undiscovered gem that is virtually ignored altogether now (and perhaps then as well), "Cry Danger" is undoubtedly in my top ten favorite film noirs of all time. Many people will chalk this up to pure foolishness or relative inexperience with the genre on my part, but before you form these opinions, let me state my case.
From the first long-angled shot of this film, the richly-textured atmospheric style is laid out. Our lead character steps off a train, fresh out of the jail where he spent five years of his life paying for somebody else's crime. He looks down a long, cylindrical tunnel at the station. The exit. But the tunnel represents something else. It represents the life he left as a younger man and the life he must return to as a forsaken, middle-aged, unemployed former gangster. It represents his cloudy, uncertain future, and his clinging reluctance to meet with it.
From there, we're introduced to a set of characters so shady and so thoroughly corrupted by circumstances beyond their control that the story itself must logically take place in one of the seediest, most dilapedated settings to have ever been featured as a primary backdrop in a film noir...a worn-down trailer park! Yes, it's uncharacteristically rustic and completely atypical, but that's another one of this film's charms.
The cramped trailer that Dick Powell and Richard Erdman share looks like it could have easily been ground zero for a moderately large hurricane, but as this is a west-coast noir, the above theory can be easily disputed. Beyond the trailer park lie villainous clip-joints and a non-descript deli which houses some mysterious vanishing bookies. Every civilian is a potential thug and every cop is on their payroll!
The beauty of this film isn't necessarily the plot, as others have pointed out, even though I am certainly intrigued by the dilemma of our hero and the resolution of the story should be fairly unexpected. But the real reason to watch this film is for all the little things. So many fine details woven together to form a tapestry that, taken as a whole, makes for a really fun rainy-day noir caper! Dick Powell is awesome as a basically decent guy who's been set-up and screwed over one time too many.
Richard Erdman really deserves glowing praise for his portrayal of a wise-cracking, one-legged ex-Marine (who lives in a trailer park! See why you should rent this right away?!?!). I've seen Erdman in a few things (most notably "Stalag 17" and "The Twilight Zone") and this film is the perfect vehicle to showcase his understated, cynical stage presence and his emphatic, cooly-paced and bitingly sardonic delivery. An underappreciated actor who really brings it to this role.
All in all, this film is too smart and too cynical to win any awards, but if you enjoy a truly sinister noir with some very unique settings and memorable performances, "Cry Danger" just may be that film. All negative criticisms aside, see this and decide for yourself. I think you'll be glad you did!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Movie for Tough Guy Powell, October 7, 2004
This review is from: Cry Danger [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Another crime/noir which should be on DVD. Dick Powell and his best friend have been convicted of taking part in an armed robbery. After five years in the pen he wins a pardon when an old Marine buddy shows up to provide an alibi. But Powell has never met the guy before, and the fellow (Richard Erdman), admits he's along to find the missing $100,000 that was taken in the robbery. Powell, who was innocent, is determined to find out who was behind sending him to prison and to get his buddy released. He meets up with the woman he still loves, Rhonda Fleming, who had married his buddy. He is determined to do the right thing while extracting justice.
This is a nice crime film with a noir look about it. The movie has a good script with some good lines, and it's directed in a craftsmanlike way that keeps things moving without loose ends. It has some weaknesses, though, that keep it from moving into the top rank. Primarily, these center on Fleming and William Conrad, who's the bad guy. Fleming was a good looking woman in a self-aware way, and this serves her well here. But she also was a mediocre actress, and this undercuts the nature of her role. Conrad, who had a great, tough voice, simply doesn't look tough enough. He just comes across as chubby.
One of the nice things about the movie is the developing friendship between Powell and Erdman. Erdman has been a reliable character actor in many movies starting with his first at 19. If you've seen Stalag 17, he was the barracks chief. Here he's a sardonic ex-marine, something of a lush, who has lost a leg and is after a chance to get some money. Powell and Erdman wind up working together and building a friendship that is believable. Unexpectedly for this kind of a movie, tough guy Powell more than once tries to discourage Erdman from drinking so much. It has nothing to do with the plot and is a nice touch.
The movie's worth watching if you like crime/noir from this period.
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