On Dangerous Ground

[pvitari]

I'm having fun screencapping this terrific noir for the upcoming Film Noir blogathon and I thought I'd share a few pictures from the first half hour of the film. I have to say though, this DVD is nothing to write home about. The picture is extremely soft. I wonder what kind of elements they have on this in the Warner vault. RKO (the studio that made On Dangerous Ground) had been through all sorts of corporate and legal hijinks for years until the rights to all their films finally ended up with Ted Turner, thank goodness, and from what I've read, most of RKO's library isn't in the best shape. They had to do an enormous amount of work, for instance, on the Astaire-Rogers musicals to make them look good for DVD release.

[moira finnie]

I have asked a friend connected to the Film Noir Foundation if there are any better masters or prints around other than the version of On Dangerous Ground found on DVD and will let you know when he gets back to me about this matter. In the meantime, thank you so much for posting those still moving images of the look of this movie during the "citified" sequences. I think it becomes visually more haunting when the action shifts to the country, though if you have any screen caps of Ryan eating his solitary dinner alone in his room (with the crucifix and the athletic trophies in the background) I'd love to see them. I also like the part when Ryan's partner is watching tv with his children!

[pvitari]

I think it becomes visually more haunting when the action shifts to the country,

Wilson's arrival in the country is what I've been working on this morning. (Yes, thanks to the bad roads the office is still closed -- I've had a week of unexpected vacation!)

Look, it's Mr. Atoz, the librarian from that Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays." In other words, Ian Wolfe. That's how strong an impression Star Trek made on my youthful mind. I can never see Ian Wolfe without seeing him as Mr. Atoz pretending to be someone else. Because he is REALLY Mr. Atoz. (Wolfe was in another Star Trek episode, "Bread and Circuses," but it's "All Our Yesterdays" that I remember him in most vividly.


Ward Bond!

if you have any screen caps of Ryan eating his solitary dinner alone in his room (with the crucifix and the athletic trophies in the background) I'd love to see them. I also like the part when Ryan's partner is watching tv with his children!

But of course! And I'll throw one in of Pete and his sultry wife. If ever there was a scene of two people right after you know what, this is it. :) I love it that she straps on his gun. :)



















There are plenty more screencaps from these scenes but you'll have to wait for the blogathon to see them. :)

[moira finnie]

Poor Robert Ryan! What a joyless little hovel he lives in. Love the caps of the other detectives, which exude life in all its messy glory, as opposed to Ryan's bleak solitude. Thanks for posting those caps, Paula.

I can't say that Star Trek=Ian Wolfe for me in quite the same way that it does for you, Paula (!), but he (and Charles Lane) are always memorable as my favorite weasel, petty bureaucrat division, though Wolfe seems to be almost too reasonable and slow in this film, given the intensity of those who swirl around him. I always think that Ward Bond is particularly good as the blundering, grief-stricken father, lashing out with violence against the unimaginable wrong that's been done to him. Bond seems both tragic and highly dangerous in this part.

In case anyone reading this thread wonders about the blogathon that Paula is referring to above, this even is described in detail here. This year the funds are being collected to help the Film Noir Foundation to restore The Sound of Fury (1950), (aka Try and Get Me). The film recounts the same story Fritz Lang told in Fury (1936) and was directed by Cy Endfield, who would run afoul of the Hollywood blacklist.

According to Ferdy on Films, [the movie's]" star, Lloyd Bridges, never had a better role, and [reportedly] when Jeff and Beau Bridges finally saw the film, they were blown away by his performance. A nitrate print of the film will be restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, using a reference print from Martin Scorsese’s personal collection to guide them and fill in any blanks. Paramount Pictures, which now owns the film, has agreed to help fund the restoration, but FNF is going to have to come up with significant funds to get the job done."

[pvitari]

Poor Robert Ryan! What a joyless little hovel he lives in

.

I'd say the style is "burned out cop basic." ;)

Love the caps of the other detectives, which exude life in all its messy glory, as opposed to Ryan's bleak solitude.

As Pops says when Jim asks him how he can live with himself, "I don't, I live with other people." ZING!

Thanks for posting those caps, Paula.

Always a pleasure. I'll post some more once I have done more of the movie.

I started a thread for the blogathon a while back, although it didn't go anywhere. But here's the link.

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =18&t=4742

[ken123]

For the Love of Film Noir, well they surely picked the perferct femmefatale for their poster.

[pvitari]

Time for some more On Dangerous Ground screencaps. Now that we're up in the Great White North, you'd think everything would be light light light, but no... even running through the snow in the daylight, the light level is kept to a medium tone...everything seems kind of muffled. And once we're in Ida Lupino's house, noirish shadows and angles abound. The night falls outside and despite the day for night footage, everything is mysterious and just a little off-kilter.

[pvitari]

The screencapping of On Dangerous Ground is finished but I'm keeping it on ice until the great unveiling of the For Love of Film Noir blogathon on February 14.

But here are some screencaps from the second half of the movie.

The lighting is still shadowy but it gets soft and almost mystical as the story changes and the POV changes (if briefly) from Jim to Mary, and their separate talks with Danny, and then the aftermath... and what Nicholas Ray called "the miracle ending." (Ray didn't like the miracle ending the studio insisted on though... but I think Frank Borzage would have liked it!) :)



















Another cross for you, Moira... :)

[kingrat]

Thank you, Paula, for the wonderful screencaps. I love the "miracle ending." Apparently Ray added much of the first half hour about Ryan's life as a cop, which for me comes close to unbalancing the film. The part of a movie with Ida Lupino is almost always better than the part of a movie without Ida Lupino.

Your screencaps show the anguish Ward Bond conveys in his scenes. So much to admire.

[Vienna]

Wonderful to see all these screencaps from ON DANGEROUS GROUND ,reminding me how much I love it. Such a change of pace for Ida, showing what a good actress she was . But it is Robert Ryan's film. His character is so conflicted,Ryan conveys his anguish so well. He has lost sight of why he is a cop,he is corrupted by the criminals he has to deal with all the time.
The change of scene from dark city to snow covered, empty landscapes is dramatic .
I agree Ward Bond does a convincing job as the father who wants a quick resolution .
I also remember how Bernard Hermann's music contributed so much to the atmosphere.