Where Danger Lives (1950)

I tried to like this movie and I know it's an old movie but, it really was horrible. A waste of film, actors, lighting etc.. When movie started of pretty good for the first 30 min then hit rock bottom was not realistic . . Really wish I could get my time back..

Down to earth, real life visit to the side of life less traveled also known as film noir. What happens in the world of film noir everyone can relate to. Its raw, exciting, real life and has you asking how to get out of a predicament just like it had you wanting to get into it. Excellent movie that starts out slow but for a reason so relax and don't be impatient! The beginning becomes clear in the end. Excellent acting and story-line that when it kicks into gear keeps you there and won't let go. I like movies that have you asking yourself "what would you have done" and then play itself out letting you see the choice the writers made. There is a scene where Robert Mitchum starts to figure things out but at a cost. Listen closely as he has dialog that makes the whole story make sense down the line. You also get to see another good cliché at work and acted out to perfection in this film: "be careful what you ask for cause you may just get it" as well as the principal of wanting and needing a second chance. Nice little goody-gem of a flick. Imagine back then how people would go catch a movie with a date or friends, popcorn and coke and get treated to a couple of features of this quality. That's a nice night out. I like to eat while watching and this is a good sandwich movie with a tasty drink plus a snack of choice especially when the action kicks in. To me, Robert Mitchum could do no acting wrong. I read his biography and he was a yahoo anything goes anti-establishment type of guy. He never got the rebel under control but he managed to make it make a living for him. I thought he went too far in his book but it is his life to do with as he pleases. He most certainly did! The title of his book said it all: Baby I Don't Care

Domergue and Mitchum lives in dangerous ground after a series of mistakes end up a dead end...this unusual noir has some holes but has action and suspense enough to forget a minor bugs...the last part of the picture near the Mexican border the plot has a high point and burn than never...the supporting cast are quite good mainly Claude Rains and Maureen o'Sullivan maybe a little older for this role,"Our" Irwin Allen was associate producer.Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

When a young woman comes into the hospital following a suicide attempt, young (and rather foolish) Doctor Jeff Cameron takes an interest in her (perhaps he likes women who feel like they have nothing to live for?) and follows up, seeing her a few times. One evening when Margo is due to travel away with her father, Jeff drunkenly plucks up the courage to go and see her and her dad with a rose and some sweet words. Unfortunately what he finds is that Margo does not live with her father but rather with her older husband. Millionaire Lannington treats Jeff with a playful contempt of a man used to his young, beautiful wife acting out but the meeting goes badly and, although Jeff's drunken state makes memory hazy, it seems a simple scuffle saw Lannington fall and bang his head, killing him. With Margo pulling him all the way, the pair decide to leave the body to be discovered in 4 days and use that time to flee the country together.This film has a central problem and it is one that it never really gets over and this is that it isn't built on very much. Firstly the passion Jeff feels for Margo is never explained and never given but a few seconds to really settle in and convince. As soon as we are expected to believe this relationship, we jump into the characters being on the run from murder in a way that relies on Jeff being drunk and beyond his sense for a very long period of time. The film does make good use of mistakes and assumptions (the cops at the airport for example) to make the characters more desperate than they need to be, but it is still asking a lot to go along with as the characters are not totally convincing. This continues right through to the very end because we are clearly never meant to turn against Jeff (which is why he gets a happy ending) and Margo gives him a spiteful deathbed confession. Her motivations for doing so make sense in one hand but personally I would have preferred her twisted character to have reached from the grave and taken Jeff with her out of spite, specifically by making her last words a clarification that Jeff did the killing and dragged her along for the ride. A dark ending but it would have lifted the film more than the pat thing it ends with, which just seemed like a copout to me.It doesn't help that Robert Mitchum is miscast. Perhaps he was not known as a tough guy at the time, but this is who he is and he cannot convince in a character that is weaker and taken over by Margo, a less imposing presence was required – someone less starry or more able, and this is not him. Of course the material doesn't help him but generally he doesn't sell this character. Domergue is faced with the same material but does a bit better as she is given a better role and she gradually play her hand during the film, starting out glamorous and showing impatience before leading into spite. They do have good moments but their flight doesn't always convince and the various obstacles occasionally feel forced and contrived (arrested for no facial hair!?).Where Danger Lives is decent enough as a story to follow along with, it moves forward with OK pace, but it is built on weakness that it never shakes off and it shows its colors in its final few minutes when, instead of embracing the darkness, it gives its main character an easy way out and provides the viewer with an ending that is as safe as it is disappointing.