ON BB2 ENGLAND 1AM 31ST DECEMBER - On Dangerous Ground (1952) Discussion

[–] thehair100 15 years ago

It is a masterpiece, and co-starring your fellow Englishwoman, Ida Lupino. I hope the BBC is showing it uncut. Get your DVR ready, and then by all means, buy it. It's worth every penny. I bought it, and have seen it over and over again. It is hypnotic. It is Robert Ryan's best overall performance. The film was directed by the great Nicholas Ray, under which Ryan did his best career work. He did five films with Ray, but this is by far the greatest. Let us know how you liked it.

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[–] simonhowson 15 years ago

ABC2 (Australia) played it at 1:51 AM on 30th of December. Coincidence?

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[–] AegriSomniac 15 years ago

BBC2 have been doing a noir movie every night for the last week or so, or should I say every morning seeing as they're on at bloody 1AM or later! I have to get up for work but I guess I'm going to have to do so quite tired.

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

Do they have DVRs in England? GET ONE, it has made my life a LOT easier. You should have one, and tape it to watch later, lol. You may be quite tired, but this film will be worth it.

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[–] Marlburian 15 years ago

As Mr Spoon has mentioned (above), this film was part of a BBC2 film noir season, all of which have been pretty good. But I'm afraid that I can't rate ODG very highly compared with the others.

The ending was a bit anti-climatic and I would have preferred to have seen the Ryan character return to the city and, in a manner reflecting his reformed persona, arrest the cop-killer he and his colleagues were looking for in the first part of the film.

It wasn't as good as that other Ryan film set in bleak, snowy conditions, Day of the Outlaw.

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[–] eerwicker 15 years ago

Just watched that very showing. Fine stuff, not a film I'd heard of. I've seen a few of the Christmas BBC run of noirs. Nice to see - Christmas TV always used to have great film scheduling but that's not happened the last few years. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without a decent black and white movie on after midnight.

Anyway, enjoyable stuff, the sleazy city streets scenes are effective and economical, the contrast with the country effective, the themes of redemption and loss well handled and not ladled on. Not too sure about the ending though. I'd have preferred to have left him driving back through the city, pondering on lessons learned.

How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

The ending was the correct one, and the one Ryan and Lupino wanted. The book it was based on, "Mad With Much Heart,", and English novel by the way, basically ended that way. If it hadn't have ended that way, I would have thrown something through the screen. The whole film was leading up to Jim's redemption. It was made very clear, in the scene in the drugstore, with the gal behind the soda fountain, that he clearly wanted someone to love, as his partners had. Three other gals came onto him in the course of the first 30 minutes, and we were waiting for him to take SOME woman in his arms. From the moment Lupino appears we are hungrily waiting for them to embrace for about 40 minutes. They were clearly attracted to each other, from the very beginning, and made quite a couple. If someone told me at the beginning of the film that it would end like that, I would have been astounded. I thought it would end with Ryan being taken out on a stretcher, beating a suspect to death, or his suicide. I love this film, as I could not guess the ending, as I did with Ray's other masterpiece, "In A Lonely Place." Not all film noirs have to end sadly, or tragically.

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[–] eerwicker 15 years ago

Fair enough, and thanks for the info. It just looked a bit tacked on... but clearly that was just me being a miserable git.

How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

Eerwicker, you are NOT a miserable git, and I am not a sentimentalist, and you have a great liking for the film. I suggest you read "Mad With Much Heart." They should still have it in England, where it was originally written. Happy New Year to you.

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[–] eerwicker 15 years ago

Thanks, I will. And a nice new year to you.

How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

Did they show "On Dangerous Ground" uncut?

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[–] eerwicker 15 years ago

Not sure... not familiar with the film to say if anything was missing. Running time was 1hr 20.

They Live By Night on tonight (or 3am tomorrow) just in time for me to watch when I get in from the revelry. And the next day it's Crossfire. The Christmas noir season also treated us to Farewell My Lovely, Dead Reckoning, The Big Combo, Out Of The Past, Journey Into Fear, Gilda and The Reckless Moment. Which was decent of 'em.

How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

The official running time of "On Dangerous Ground" is 82 minutes, so if it was shown uncut without commericials, you would have seen the enitre film. You must see it ALL. I would suggest for you to buy the DVD, to make sure you do, if they had commercials. All of those other noirs are marvelous. The BBC should be commended for showing them, and introducing younger audiences to the art of the noir.

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[–] eerwicker 15 years ago

No commercials. Just rewatched it on the BBC's iPlayer. Even better second time.

The BBC (and its rival Channel 4) used to have an excellent track record in showing great movies, and in scheduling some fine film seasons over Christmas. Between 10 and 20 years ago this gave me a pretty good introduction to cinema; I remember sitting up over various Christmases to catch after-midnight seasons of classic British cinema (Lean, Powell and Pressburger etc); Kurosawa, Bergman, silent classics, Laurel and Hardy, Bogart, and so on. In recent years this hasn't happened so this run of noirs (and also a Welles season) was a welcome throwback.

And Crossfire was great last night. Much better than I remembered, if a little preachy at the end.

How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?

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[–] thehair100 15 years ago

No commercials. Just rewatched it on the BBC's iPlayer. Even better second time.

Excellent. I went to that link, and they said I couldn't use it. You Brits are STILL being mean to us in "The Colonies," lol. I would also suggest getting the DVD of "On Dangerous Ground." If you can't get it directly in England, which I think you can, you can get it from Amazon, where I got mine. You had a wonderful group of noirs to watch this year, among them the fabulous "Out Of The Past," ("Build My Gallows High," to Brits) with my honey Mitchum.

And Crossfire was great last night. Much better than I remembered, if a little preachy at the end.

"Crossfire" was excellent, and it also had my honey Mitchum in it, BUT it featured my TRUE honey Ryan, as did the fabulous "On Dangerous Ground." I notice the BBC2 was showing the other film Ryan made with Lupino, "Beware My Lovely," also. Excellent film, though not nearly as good as "On Dangerous Ground."

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