This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)

Surprisingly low-key crime drama. It's Crawford without her usual emoting even with the many script opportunities. In fact, she almost walks through the part in what appears unengaged fashion. Maybe that's because of her contract dispute with Warners (IMDB), which she soon left. Anyway, she plays a gang moll specializing in bank heists, along with her wacko paramour Brian. Trouble is she's losing her eyesight and must go to handsome surgeon Morgan for correction, soon becoming dependent on him. So, the question is will she stay with her criminal past and Brian or will she open up to Morgan's respectable ways and his mounting interest in her.One trouble with star vehicles is they're often padded for the star's sake. Here, that appears the case, especially with the middle part and long after we've understood the conflicts. Anyway, director Feist shows more ingenuity with shadowy set-ups than he does with building suspense. Thus the promising final part lacks the tension implicit in the script. And catch that terrible piece of staging when the highway cop is blithely murdered. At least the travel trailer hideout amounts to an imaginative asset. At the same time, Brian overplays his tough guy role as though he's trying to compensate for his two stony co-stars. In plot terms, it also makes you wonder why Crawford has such loyal ties to him. At least one soft moment between the two is badly needed. At the same time, the usually personable Morgan seems especially bland, maybe because he too was wrapping up with Warners (IMDB). Thus, contract disputes could well be a factor in this disappointing production. In sum, the flick amounts to one in which no one seems particularly interested in the results. One thing for sure- it's a long, long way from the usual tight Warner's crime drama or even a trademark Crawford weepie.

Joan Crawford left Warner Bros. with a whimper after starring in this mediocre vehicle about a jaded gangster's girl (quickly losing her sight!) who flirts with going straight after falling for her ever-patient eye surgeon. It might not be such a bad idea: the Feds are hot on her trail, as is a private detective who'd like a little inside action. Scattered screenplay, adapted from Bernard Girard's short story, tailored as a showcase for its leading lady, who gets to show both her tough side as well as her withering, womanly glow. Tolerable up to a point, the picture makes too many sentimental side-trips, and Crawford's character ends up not making a whole lot of sense (she also spends a great deal of time waiting in the car). Production values up to par, but this hoary material is second-rate. ** from ****

This Woman Is Dangerous marks Warner Brothers termination of the contracts of Joan Crawford and Dennis Morgan. It's a potboiler of a story at best made a lot better by the A list cast.Joan's a woman of some class who's hooked up with gangster brothers David Brian and Philip Carey and Carey's wife Mari Aldon. After successfully pulling off a heist at a gambling casino, Joan consults a doctor about some vision problems she's having and discovers she's going blind. A really delicate operation is needed and Dr. Dennis Morgan is the guy to do it. So Joan drops out of the gang to go east to Indiana and the hospital Morgan is affiliated with.While she's repairing her vision, Brian does something really stupid and makes the gang red hot. He kills a state trooper and then in a move I cannot understand ditches the trailer camper they were traveling in with the trooper's body. Might as well have signed a confession.But Crawford's prints are also in the trailer though the FBI knows she was in the hospital when the murder occurred. She looks like a good bet to lead the FBI to Brian and the rest reasons FBI agent Richard Webb who was also playing Captain Midnight on TV at the same time and in the same manner. So Crawford is staked out like a bird dog.This Woman Is Dangerous would never get a notice and would be several rankings lower if it weren't for Joan Crawford and the rest of the cast.

Although Joan Crawford is undoubtedly the star of this awful Warners' programmer, and the bland Dennis Morgan is her love interest, David Brian is the best thing about this film. Brian had already appeared with Crawford in Flamingo Road and The Damned Don't Cry, both of which are infinitely superior to this film, and he knew how to hold his own against her. He, at least, brings a little fire to the screen (while Miss Crawford simpers as she suffers and Morgan tries to smile handsomely).Crawford plays Beth Austin, a high-class gangster in league with the volatile Jackson brothers (Brian and Philip Carey) who learns she has one of those unspecified disease integral to all mediocre movies. Morgan is the clean-cut doctor who is the only man who can save her. Of course they fall for each other and events follow a horribly predictable (and unbearably slow) path towards an inevitable conclusion.There isn't much of any worth about this film. It's professionally constructed but lacks any kind of passion, excitement or interest.