On Dangerous Ground
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | On Dangerous Ground |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nicholas Ray |
| script |
AI Bezzerides Nicholas Ray |
| production | John Houseman for RKO Pictures |
| music | Bernard Herrmann |
| camera | George E. Treble |
| cut | Roland Gross |
| occupation | |
| |
On Dangerous Ground is in black and white twisted, American film noir from the year 1952 . Directed by Nicholas Ray , the screenplay is by AI Bezzerides and Nicholas Ray on the novel Mad With Much Heart of Gerald Butler .
The city policeman Jim Wilson, embittered by his job, is sent to a rural region after an assault, where he is supposed to solve the murder of a young woman. The encounters with the inhabitants, especially with the blind Mary Malden, changed him forever.
action
City policeman Jim Wilson is bitter and lonely because of his job, his anger against “human garbage” regularly results in outbreaks of violence against the criminals he is pursuing. After another attack, he is transferred to a rural area by his superior, where he is supposed to help solve the murder of a young woman. In addition to the local sheriff, the investigators also include Walter Brent, the dead girl's father, who swore to kill the murderer when he was found. The trail leads to the house of the blind Mary Malden, whose mentally disturbed younger brother Danny has been missing for some time. Wilson and Mary soon develop sympathy for one another as they chat about their social isolation and loneliness, with Mary not feeling any of the bitterness that plagues Wilson. She confesses to Wilson that Danny is hiding in a cabin on her property. Wilson promises her if possible not to harm her brother and asks her to persuade him to give up. Before he can arrest the distraught Danny, Brent arrives and shoots the boy. Danny is killed in the subsequent escape. Brent is deeply affected when he discovers that the dead man is hardly older than his murdered daughter. Mary is now completely alone, but after a dispute between her and Wilson about an eye operation that she does not dare to have, she tells him to leave. During the drive back to the big city, Wilson remembers the conversations he had with Mary, among others, about loneliness. He turns back and seeks out Mary again, who welcomes him with open arms.
background
production
Gerald Butler's novel is set in Great Britain and begins immediately with Jim Wilson's investigation in the rural area. In the end, Wilson and Mary Maldens part ways. The film moves the location to the United States and adds an exposition located in the big city. Nicholas Ray, against the opposition of screenwriter Bezzerides and producer John Houseman , insisted on a positive ending in which Wilson returns to Mary Malden. In later years, Ray described his film as a "failure" because of the "miraculous" ending.
Filming of On Dangerous Ground took place in the RKO studios in the spring and summer of 1950, with location shots in Los Angeles and in Grand County, Colorado . - The allegation has been made on several occasions that Nicholas Ray fell ill during filming and that Ida Lupino therefore directed some scenes, but this has not been proven. For example, Patrick McGilligan's Nicholas Ray biography does not list this anecdote. - Bernard Herrmann's film music (with viola d'amore solos by Virginia Majewski ) was recorded in January 1951.
The final cut version did not correspond to Ray's original intention: After his presentation, the film was to be divided into three chapters of roughly equal length, of which the first and third should take place in the big city, the middle one in the country. Over a period of almost a year, numerous changes and cuts totaling ten minutes in length were made. Dark Highway was first considered as a title before the film received its final title On Dangerous Ground .
Theatrical release
On Dangerous Ground launched in the United States on January 26, 1952 in Los Angeles and on February 12 in New York City . The reviews of the premiere were mostly cautiously positive, but financially the film failed. It was not shown in German cinemas.
subjects
“As the cradle of crime and a cauldron of negative energy, the city is the indispensable location for film noir. Rural scenes tend to appear sporadically, and usually as a counterpoint to the decaying city, ”says Foster Hirsch in his book The Dark Side of the Screen . Among the representatives of film noir, who juxtapose city and country, he counts asphalt jungle , avenger of the underworld and golden poison . (One film that is missing from Hirsch's list is Jacques Tourneurs When Night Falls , besides On Dangerous Ground also one of the few examples in which snow-covered landscapes play a central role.) “ Of all the noir films, On Dangerous Ground probably offers that most schematic contrast between town and country. […] The protagonist's collapse contrasts with kaleidoscopic images of urban depravity […] he discovers that the country also harbors its dangers and pitfalls, but the film suggests that the overexcited policeman in the rural environment gains a humanity that in the city would not be possible. "
For Hirsch, the “dangerous ground” of the title refers not only to the urban environment in which the policeman Wilson does his job, but also to his emotional state. He also discovers similarities between Wilson and Dixon Steele, the main character in Ray's A Lonely Place, a year earlier : “They appear completely separated from society, ostracized by the violence of their anger. The fact that their outbreaks have no simple cause literally alienates them from society and cannot reintegrate them. ”That is why the end of A lonely place , the protagonist of which falls back into isolation, is more plausible than that of On Dangerous Ground , the redemption the policeman suggests: “By reversing the usual focus of film noir on dramatic defeat, this story is even more sentimental than [Ray's debut film] In the Shadow of the Night . Ray has the courage to shoot cheesy film noirs that celebrate the healing power of romantic love. "
Reviews
The first two reviews are dated close to the film's release, the following are from later years.
“The story is a shallow, half-baked affair [...] The explanation for the policeman's sadism is superficial, and his salvation is achieved in a simple and romanticizing way. [...] Despite the confident and astute direction and the overwhelming exterior shots, this RKO melodrama is unable to fathom its topic. "
"You shouldn't like [the movie] badly - especially the first half, if you think of it as an action movie and don't let the excessive metaphysical undertones drag you down."
“An outstanding film noir of a different kind [...] about the violence in each of us, about the effects of the milieu and the family on the personality [...] and the spiritual redemption of a fallen man. Even if it seems a bit schematic in places, no one can doubt the force of the acting (Ryan in particular is grimly effective, a true forerunner of Siegel's Dirty Harry ) and the skill of Ray's poetic but harsh production. Sustainably supported by George Diskant's high-contrast camera images and Bernard Herrmann's breathtaking film music [...] this is a film full of brilliant moments. "
“One of the nicest of Nick Ray's films. Created in 1952, it begins as a rough film noir and gradually gives way to a heavenly romanticism reminiscent of Frank Borzage . "
"The two-part structure of the story may seem strange, but it is masked by the density of the staging, and although the ending is more sentimental than apparently originally intended, it shows genuine conviction."
Publications
On Dangerous Ground was released in the USA as part of the "Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3" DVD box on Warner Home Video. In France it appeared under the title La Maison dans l'ombre by Éditions Montparnasse, in Spain as La casa en la sombra by Manga Films. All publications present the film, shot in normal format, in Open Matte format (1.33: 1). The film has not yet appeared in Germany.
In 2003, Turner Classic Movies Music and Film Score Monthly released Bernard Herrmann's restored film music on CD .
literature
- Gerald Butler: Mad With Much Heart, Rinehart & Company, New York 1946
- Geoff Andrew: The Films of Nicholas Ray: The Poet of Nightfall, Charles Letts & Co., London 1991, ISBN 1852381655 ; New edition: British Film Institute, London 2004, ISBN 1844570010 (TB), ISBN 1844570002
Web links
- On Dangerous Ground in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- On Dangerous Ground on Turner Classic Movies
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Patrick McGilligan: The Glorious Failure of an American Director, It Books / HarperCollins, New York 2011, ISBN 9780060731373 .
- ↑ Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward (Ed.): Film Noir. An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition, Overlook / Duckworth, New York / Woodstock / London 1992, ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 , pp. 216-217.
- ↑ a b c On Dangerous Ground on Turner Classic Movies.
- ↑ E.g. in Dave Kehr's (undated) review in Chicago Reader, accessed April 17, 2012.
- ↑ a b Text by Christopher Husted on the CD release of Herrmann's film music for On Dangerous Ground , Turner Classic Movies Music and Film Score Monthly, 2003.
- ^ On Dangerous Ground in the Internet Movie Database.
- ↑ a b Foster Hirsch: The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir, Da Capo Press, New York 2001, ISBN 0-306-81039-5 , pp. 83, 127, 194-195.
- ↑ "[...] the story is a shallow, uneven affair [...] The cause of the cop's sadism is only superficially explained, and certainly his happy redemption is easily and romantically achieved." […] For all the sincere and shrewd direction and the striking outdoor photography, this RKO melodrama fails to traverse its chosen ground. ”- Review in the New York Times on February 13, 1952, accessed on April 17, 2012.
- ↑ "You won't find it all too bad – particularly the first half, if you regard it as an action yarn and don't let the metaphysical overtones depress you unduly." - Review in the Los Angeles Times, quoted from Patrick McGilligan : The Glorious Failure of an American Director, It Books / HarperCollins, New York 2011, ISBN 9780060731373 .
- ^ "A superb noir thriller with a difference [...] about the violence within us all, about the effects of the environment and family upon character [...] and about the spiritual redemption of a fall man." If it sometimes seems a little schematic, there is no denying the power of the performances (Ryan in particular is ferociously effective, a true precursor to Siegel's Dirty Harry), nor the eloquence of Ray's poetic but tough direction. Aided enormously by George Diskant's high contrast camerawork and by Bernard Herrmann's stunning score […] it's a film of frequent brilliance. "- Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999, Penguin, London 1998.
- ↑ "One of the loveliest of Nick Ray's movies. This 1952 feature begins as a harsh film noir and Gradually shifts to on ethereal romanticism reminiscent of Frank Borzage" - Review by Dave Kehr in the Chicago Reader, http: //www.chicagoreader. com / chicago / on-dangerous-ground / film? oid = 1067928
- ↑ "The bipartite story construction might seem awkward, but this is over-ridden by the intensity of realization, and though the ending is more sentimental than had evidently been the original intention, it is carried off with genuine conviction." - Tim Pulleine in Phil Hardy (Ed.): The BFI Companion to Crime, University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles 1997, ISBN 0-520-21538-9 , pp. 248-249.