On Dangerous Ground

Nicholas Ray's 1952 film noir may not be as well-known as other genre classics, but it is one of the best, a thoughtful drama and rare noir that ventures from the dark city to a snow-bright rural country setting. Robert Ryan stars as Jim Wilson, an obsessive, tightly-wound police detective who works the night shift on the urban streets of an unnamed city filled with grifters, hookers, and petty crooks. When his anger boils over into violence once too often, Wilson is sent out of town to help with a murder case in the rural countryside, where he meets a blind woman (Ida Lupino) who rekindles his compassion. Ward Bond plays the father of the murdered girl, a man worked into a vicious fury that makes him suspicious of everyone, and he becomes a dark mirror of Wilson's own contempt and anger. On Dangerous Ground opens as a police procedural in a dark city, set to an urgent yet fractured dramatic score by Bernard Herrmann as director Ray fills the street scenes with lowlifes and opportunists, the very kind of characters that turned Wilson into a cynical, emotionally brittle officer. But there's also a poetic dimension here in the long sequences of watching the city at night, the changing landscape on the way to farm country, and the gentle moments in Lupino's home as these two isolated people find a connection. Crisp cinematography, a haunting score, evocative performances, and a brilliant sense of mood make this an underrated classic of the genre. Beautifully remastered for its Blu-ray debut, extras include an audio commentary by film historian Glenn Erickson. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)