Customer Reviews

Cry Danger [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

"Cry Danger" is an interesting, twisting and turning noir film. What the viewer sees is not necessarily what (s)he gets! As CD opens, Dick Powell has just been released after 5 years in the Cooler. He had been framed for robbery and murder. He is determined to nail the rat that framed him and to clear his unseen buddy, Danny, for the same crime. The Law, in the person of a cynical detective, Regis Toomey, is just waiting for Powell to mess up. Toomey would be perfectly happy to send DP back to Stir. The mug who set Powell up is a smarmy, slimy nightclub owner, William Conrad. True to form, the corrupt Conrad tries to frame DP all over again, this time through a fixed horse race. Is a woman involved? There certainly is, in the form of a homey Rhonda Fleming. Such a nice girl! She was Powell's girlfriend, but married the mysterious Danny instead. This recap will end here so as not to reveal the startling but satisfying resolution. Most viewers will be taken by surprise! Someone is not who they appear to be! The truth about Danny is also revealed. It's hard not to like CD. One has to root for Powell, a WW2 Vet framed for a crime he didn't commit, trying to straighten out his life and help a pal at the same time. The LA trailer park setting is picture perfect and with a 79 minute run time, no one will be bored. It's so hard to believe that the gritty Powell was once a song and dance man! CD is a perfectly safe choice for noir fans and filmed in appropriately gloomy black and white. Highly recommended!

I couldn't agree more with the guy from Colorado who wrote the other review on this film, There really isn't much I can add, but If you like movies from this genre, BUY this, It's a forgotten classic. Whoever the actor was who befriended Powell, really adds punch. Outstanding dialoge and magical moments throughout, but the ending is the best (...)

Filmed in an art decoish 1950's Los Angeles, "Cry Danger" starring a smooth Dick Powell was an entertaining film noir near classic. Powell playing ex-bookie Rocky Mulloy had just been released from a five year stint in prison on a trumped up charge that he and a friend committed an armed robbery.

Powell was released on what turned out to be bogus evidence by liquor swilling, wooden legged ex-Marine Delong played by a caustic and wisecracking Richard Erdman. Powell shacked up with Erdman in his trailer park but was being tailed by determined cop Lt. Cobb played by Regis Toomey. Toomey believed that Powell would eventually try to recover the yet undiscovered stolen funds.

The cat and mouse gamed being played was obscured by the amorous advances of ex-Powell love interest Nancy played by the attractive Rhonda Fleming who was married to Powell's purported partner in crime. Powell trying to prove his innocence threatened a hoodlum named Louie Castro played by a svelter William Conrad, whom he believed to be the mastermind of the crime.

Powell with his life imperilled and being hounded by Toomey eventually figures out what happened in a surprising twist at the conclusion of this short but sweet film.

As an American boy growing up on the outskirts of France, I sometimes longed for the simple sound of a motor engine, for days would pass by without any of us seeing or spotting a car. As it happens we were within two kilometers of one of France's great highways, but in our little corners of la foret, there was never a motor to be seen. Dick Powell's resonant 1951 CRY DANGER, with its haunting mise-en-scene, a crowded trailer camp somehow squeezed into a downtown Los Angeles lot, takes one back to the day when framed men bent the law to get out of jail, then broke the law to get back in, all in the name of justice. Fifty thousand smackers in hot money, that's a lot of motivation!

As everyone knows, crooner Dick Powell pulled off one of the most amazing second acts in American film, swinging his Busby Berkeley light tenor and amiable grin and going for the downbeat in the immediate postwar era, bruied and knocked up as an often sadistic, heartless tough guy. In CRY DANGER he blends characteristics from both his public personae, one from Column A, one from Column B. His lovesick puppydog act might have some right out of one of his Ruby Keeler movies, but beating the tar out of fat boy William Conrad you could almost feel his sex excitement as he forces him to lie on his back on his own desk, his feet in the air. If he had had Deliverance style sex with this frightened piglet I wouldn't have been surprised. After all, he's just come out of a six year stretch in jail, and Conrad's the man who put him there.

I've never seen a Rhonda Fleming picture, and I must say she's nothing special here. She's just weird because of the trailer set up, and how all her windows are too high and her door too low, but otherwise she dresses like Jane Wyatt in FATHER KNOWS BEST, and her little home on wheels boasts LADIES HOME JOURNAL touches everywhere. Is it just me or did anybody figure out how the bad guys managed to fool Dick Powell into placing that bet with the phony bookie? When he takes the Lieutenant back to the deli to prove his innocence, how did they manage to make the entire stockroom disappear? Threw me for a loop, it did.

As everyone agrees, Richard Erdman steals the show as the hero Marine with only one leg whose twisted mind hatches a fantastic scheme of release, redemption and alcohol abuse. Watching him you think of some modern actor like Philip Seymour Hoffman or William Macy. He's so naturalistic he disappears into the part, he just is who the script has him be.

Another great example of Dick Powell in a film noir, Cry Danger looks at crime after the trial. Rocky Mulloy (Powell) has been released from his life sentence after five years in prison thanks to false testimony given by a stranger (Richard Erdman). The crime? A major robbery that resulted in the death of a police officer. Although Rocky was pinned with the crime, he did not commit it, but he knows who did. As a free man, he attempts to find proof that could clear his name completely, put the right people away, and possibly get his friend out on parole. Helping him is his friend's wife (Rhonda Fleming), the woman he was supposed to marry.

This is an interesting film from start to finish. Powell gives a wonderful performance as a good guy tangled in with the wrong people who has his own amount of greed. He carries the film well.

Unfortunately, this print isn't in the best condition. It seems as if there were no attempt to restore it to its original state. There are plenty of scratches throughout, however not large enough to distract too much.

RKO Radio Pictures presents "CRY DANGER" (1951) - (79 min/B&W) -- Starring: Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad & Regis Toomey

Directed by Robert Parrish

Rocky Mulloy (Powell), back in town after serving 5 years of a life sentence for armed robbery, hopes to clear his friend Danny Morgan who's still in prison for the same crime. It won't be easy. Even the witness who cleared Rocky thinks he's guilty; Danny's glamorous wife Nancy (Fleming), living in a sleazy trailer court, seems lukewarm about getting Danny back; cynical cop Gus Cobb (Toomey) just wants to stir things up in hopes that the missing "hot" $100,000 will surface. Plenty of tough talk, night scenes, deceptive dames and double crosses in this atmospheric film noir.

Erdman and Toomey give very good to an outstanding performance, great chemistry between all characters.

William Conrad with his sinister vibes, gives this film a shot in the arm, he's so good in these noir roles.

RKO Pictures, once again can do no wrong when it comes to film noir.

BIOS:
1. Robert Parrish
Date of Birth: 4 January 1916 - Columbus, Georgia
Date of Death: 4 December 1995 - Southampton, Long Island, New York

2. Dick Powell
Date of Birth: 14 November 1904, Mountain View, Arkansas
Date of Death: 2 January 1963, West Los Angeles, California

3. Rhonda Fleming
Date of Birth: 10 August 1923 - Hollywood, California
Date of Death: Still Living

4. Richard Erdman
Date of Birth: 1 June 1925, Enid, Oklahoma
Date of Death: Unknown

5. William Conrad [aka: John William Cann]
Date of Birth: 27 September 1920 - Louisville, Kentucky
Date of Death: 11 February 1994 - North Hollywood, California

6. Regis Toomey
Date of Birth: 13 August 1898 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 12 October 1991 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 87 min on DVD/VHS ~ RKO Radio Pictures ~ (January 1, 1998)

Good dialog and a fast-moving story make this one of the better somewhat-unknown film noirs of its day.

Dick Powell and Jay Adler wisecrack their way through this film with some humorous sarcasm. Both are a lot of fun to watch. Powell was in his prime for this kind of role. He was much more mature looking than in his earlier musical days and he fits the part of a tough detective to a tee. His dialog with the tough cop, played by Regis Toomey, also is excellent stuff.

Jean Porter provides added humor with her supporting role as the bimbo-thief date for Adler and Rhonda Fleming adds beauty. A younger William Conrad - with a dark head of hair and a mustache - also has a key role in here.

Even though it is classified as film noir, I'm not sure it belongs in that category because it doesn't feature the brooding, dark type of characters and atmosphere one usually sees in that genre. One place is does belong is in your collection, if you like classic crime stories.

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