Where Danger Lives (1950) User Reviews

Mitch Caught In The Tentacals Of A Dangerous Female!

[jpdoherty · 7/10 · 17 June 2009]

WHERE DANGER LIVES is another of the great classic Hollywood film noirs! Produced by Irving Cummings Jr.and Irwin Allen for RKO in 1950 it had a sturdy screenplay by Charles Bennet and splendid tight direction by John Farrow. It is one of the studio's better and most memorable noirs!

RKO head Howard Hughes' favourite star was Robert Mitchum and little wonder since all of his films were, by and large, very successful."Where Danger Lives" was no exception and alongside "Out of the Past" (aka. "Build My Gallows High" and containing Mitchum's finest performance) remains the best of the genre! Here in "Where Danger Lives" Mitchum heads a fine cast as a young doctor who unwittingly falls for one of his patients unaware she is somewhat psychotic ("I didn't fall for a woman - I fell for a patient"). In her first film appearance (taking over from Jane Greer ) Faith Domergue is excellent - if a little quirky and creepy - as the Femme Fatale. During their fleeting affair she lands Mitchum in a dangerous criminal predicament when she has him believe he has killed someone with a knockout punch (when he leaves the room to get some water it is she who suffocates the hapless victim with a cushion). On his return she persuades Mitchum that now the police will be after them for murder and they must flee. Believing her they go on the run and head for Mexico. The picture ends tragically in a shootout at the border.

A terrific little thriller with the stars in splendid form and in a movie that has lost none of its impact over the years. And watch out for a scene near the end of the picture where Mitchum falls down a staircase without the use of a stunt double. Mitchum clearly does the fall but ouch! It must have hurt! Others in the cast are the directors's wife Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Kemper and there's a wonderfully realised cameo by the great Claude Rains ("I wish you'd stop calling her my daughter, she happens to be my wife!"). Sharply photographed in black & white by Nicholas Musuraca the film also had an atmospheric score by Roy Webb. Webb was an interesting composer! He wrote in the style of Max Steiner without attaining that composer's hyperbole. Like Steiner he had a voluminous output, he composed over 200 scores mostly for RKO and Warner Bros. but he is best remembered for his noir scores at RKO in the 40's. His finest work in this regard is for "Out OF The Past" (1947) with its dark and melodic undertones and an attractive and lingering main theme. In the early sixties a house fire destroyed all his scores and unpublished works. After that he never composed again. He died in 1982 at the age of 94.

"Where Danger Lives" is a great movie and is one of the finest examples of the noir style of picture making. It also displays the long gone but not forgotten craftsmanship that was Hollywood's Golden Age!

Seemed like Angel Face light

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 28 January 2023]

In Mitchum's last RKO film, he plays a doctor who saves a young woman from a suicide attempt. The young woman, played by Faith Domergue, is very mysterious. She gives the hospital a fake name and address, then later sends Mitchum a telegram asking him to meet her. Mitchum does and he finds himself entranced by her beauty. Then, I'm guessing some time has passed, because all of a sudden he's meeting her at a club, greeting her with a romantic kiss. She asks him if he loves her, says she loves him. I'm thinking, "it's only been a couple days?" Regardless, like many old Hollywood films, they seem to fall in love rather quickly. Then Domergue drops a bombshell, she and her elderly father are leaving that night for the Bahamas. Then she bails.

Mitchum drowns his sorrow in half a dozen coconut cocktails and decides to go to Domergue's home to plead with her to stay. Because showing up at your girlfriend's home, drunk, expecting to meet her father, will go over well. Anyway, Mitchum shows up at the house, meets Domergue's father, Claude Rains. He quickly learns that all is not what it seems.

Claude Rains and Maureen O'Sullivan are third and fourth billed, respectively. Their combined screen time is maybe 10 minutes. I assume that O'Sullivan was there because her husband, John Farrow, was the director. This film didn't need someone of her caliber for the part of Julie the nurse. Any actress could have played that part. Like in many of these classic films featuring doctors and nurses, the nurse is in love with the doctor. It takes the doctor dating someone else for him to realize that he too, loves his nurse.

Mitchum was fantastic, per usual. Domergue was okay as the femme fatale. There wasn't really anything special about her performance. She definitely paled in comparison with Mitchum and Rains. I can't help but wonder what someone like Jean Simmons would have done in this role, but somehow I think that at this point in time, all casting decisions for actresses at RKO came down to Howard Hughes and who he wanted to date.

High Maintenance Psycho

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 May 2011]

Where Danger Lives was supposed to launch Faith Domergue's career as yet another of Howard Hughes's discoveries. Beauty she had with a good dose of slink eyed attractiveness that stood her in good stead in her role in this film. In support Hughes gave her RKO's number one leading man, Robert Mitchum and a good cast in support.

Mitchum plays a doctor here who falls big time for Domergue the minute she gives him a come all glance. Problem is that she's slightly married to Claude Rains a rich older guy who's kind of used to her philandering, but not thrown in front of his face. Which is what she does with Mitchum and when Mitchum struggles with Rains he thinks that he's killed Rains. So Bob and Faith go on the run.

A respected doctor and society woman you wouldn't think are good candidates to be fugitives. But they do all right for themselves up to a point despite many people looking to take advantage of them. My favorite is Tol Avery as one bottom feeding used car salesman with a most annoying laugh.

They also do all right considering Domergue is not playing with a full deck, I think a whole suit of thirteen is missing from her 52. Add to that Mitchum has an untreated concussion which also slows them up a bit.

Where Danger Lives is a decent noir film from the studio that made noir a fashionable genre. Too bad Claude Rains had to be killed right away, any film is made better with his presence. Director John Farrow's wife Maureen O'Sullivan has a brief part as a good girl Mitchum deserts for Domergue. Of course if Faith gives you the come on few could resist.

According to the Lee Server biography of Robert Mitchum, the fall down a flight of stairs you see Mitchum do was really him and not a stuntman. Normally studios protect the high profile derrières of their stars, but when you've John Farrow directing who may have been the biggest directorial swine in Hollywood it's different. Farrow would challenge Mitchum's masculinity and that wasn't something Bob would back down from. But one take was definitely it.

Where Danger Lives is a nice one from Mitchum's RKO salad days.

Surreal film noir

[FilmFlaneur · 11 April 2001]

'A few hours ago I felt on top of the world. Look at me now'

John Farrow's film is one of a small number of interesting noir thrillers the director helmed during the late 40's and early 50's. Included amongst these productions are the bizarre comedy of ‘His Kind of Woman' (1951) also with Mitchum, and the magnificently baroque ‘The Big Clock' (1948), with Ray Milland. ‘Where Danger Lives', a powerful, dream-like piece, has some claim to being the best of these, being respectively less diffuse and grandiose than the other two films. Its strengths lay elsewhere, still founded upon the characteristic insecurities of film noir, but dwelling explicitly on the processes of mental aberration. This successfully induces an unusually strong atmosphere of hallucination - in effect replacing paranoia with psychosis.

Only at the end of the film does the dazed hero realise that he has really been ‘dating the patient' – the deranged Margo. Thematically this respect it is similar to Otto Preminger's ‘Angel Face' (1953) and Brahm's intricate ‘The Locket' (1947), again both starring Mitchum. In all three films the actor confronts femmes fatales with hidden psychological disorders, illnesses of the mind which serve to internalise and, to a certain extent, symbolise the confusions of the noir universe. In this film however, his character is himself mentally confused through concussion, adding a perspective of further disorientation. ‘I may be seem to be talking logically' says Dr. Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) at one point. ‘But what I say won't make any sense'.

At the beginning of ‘Where Danger Lives', Cameron is a man clearly in control of himself, his career, and his love life. Given the concern of the film with health and well-being, it is eminently logical that he should be a doctor (although not a psychiatrist, as Margo's first husband makes a point of establishing). His presence in the hospital is commanding, authoritative even, his future clear. The ebbing away of these keystones to his life - in effect an emasculation after encountering the suicidal Margo - is drastic and troubling. At first he is merely slowed by his own inebriation, then confused by her deceit. This is followed shortly afterwards by the head blow by her outraged husband (played by Claude Rains in his most typically urbane, menacing style), which creates a more profound effect on his mental capabilities.

This is a film dominated by Margo and Jeff on the road, and their crazed relationship to each other. Jeff's concussion and resulting moral confusion, and Margo's hidden psychosis, make them ideal partners in the bewildering and uncertain world through which they travel. Jeff's mental distraction makes him passive, vulnerable, while Margo's compulsions make her determined, wiley and strong. Ultimately it is this distortion in their relationship, in some respect a reversal of the usual sex roles, which gives the film so much of its intrigue. Once Margo and Jeff have found each other, in fact, they play on the same ‘mad' circuit, hurtling towards a crash, like the racers which stunned Jeff visualises buzzing ‘up and down' in his head.

Farrow's direction follows the trajectory of events perfectly. At the start of the film, he shoots Mitchum's tall frame framed within the cold certainties of hospital hallways, uncluttered and unshadowed. By the end of the film he is slumped, hidden and confused within shadowy hotel rooms, or stumbling along dark sidewalks. In between times, Farrow is able to enjoy himself with the surreal episode of the beards festival, (a peculiarly bizarre moment even in the extreme experiences of noir) which works well in the context of the runaway's own mental disorientation.

The most powerful scene in the film is the penultimate confrontation of Jeff and Margo in the border hotel. Shot in one continuous take, Farrow effortlessly manages a number of complicated set ups within the frame as the two protagonists confront each other, and their reduced options, while moving around the set. Margo's final attack on Jeff, her attempted smothering of him (as she had done to her first husband much earlier) is so frightening because Mitchum's big frame is now so handicapped and reduced. Close to the Mexican border, Cameron is also close to unconsciousness, coma, and possibly death as well. The cheap hotel room, the broad, the flashing window sign, the rising tide of panic with a departing prospect of ‘escape' - these are all of course entirely typical of the genre. But by the time we reach this scene it is obvious too that, here at least, real danger lives as much in the head as in the world of police and shady border deals.

Entertaining but trite

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 27 May 2007]

It's odd. During the last week or so, I have seen two Robert Mitchum films where he played a sap to a manipulative woman--something you normally would never expect to see with such a manly and forceful actor. In ANGEL FACE and WHERE DANGER LIVES, the normally smart and worldly Mitchum is led around like a sheep by crazed women--something that really doesn't work with this actor. Now if they'd chosen a guy who was NOT seen as a "tough guy", then both films would have been a lot better.

Another problem with WHERE DANGER LIVES is that the film is very predictable and I found myself correctly guessing where the film was headed. In particular, Faith Domergue's character wasn't very subtle and it was pretty easy to guess all the "secrets" she hid--making the film very anticlimactic.

However, despite these serious complaints, the film still is a tad better than just your usual time-passer. Mitchum, despite being miscast, is still magnetic and the film is exciting from time to time. It's just a shame that this fine actor wasn't given better material.

I didn't fall in love with a woman I fell in love with a patient

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 18 May 2007]

**SPOILERS** With his 15 hour tour at the San Francisco Hospital just ended Doctor Jeff Cameron, Robert Mitchum, was on his way home to get some very needed rest when he was summoned back to the emergency room to treat this unidentified young woman who was recovering from a suicide attempt. It turns out later in the movie that the young woman, who gives Dr. Cameron the name Margo, Faith Domergu,is actually related to and living with multi-millionaire Fedrick Lannigton, Cladue Rains, in his spacious estate outside the city.

Getting a telegram at the hospital to meet this mysterious Margo Dr. Cameron falls head over heels from the beautiful and alluring brunette and even goes so far as taking her out at a swanky restaurant that evening. Dr. Cameron does't realize that she's setting him up for the kill or for him to murdered her, as she calls him, abusive father Fredrick. Jeff At first thinking that Fredrick is actually Margo's father, like she told him, a love-sick Cameron is about to ask for his "daughters" hand in marriage. It's when he's told by a, what looks like, very amused Mr. Lannigton about Margo's relationship to him, she's actually his wife, he completely loses interest. That's when the sparks start to fly with Cameron ending up with a fractured skull and Mr. Frederick dead after Margo started to scream, when Jeff left the estate, making him think that Fredrick was beating her.

Recovering from his head injury that he received from a fireplace poker being smashed over his skull, by the late Mr. Lannigton, a very confused Dr. Cameron is persuaded by a hysterical Margo to check out of the country in order to avoid being arrested by the police for her husbands' murder. Cameron who had checked Frederck just moments before after he knocked him out, in self defense, against the fireplace and found him to be unconscious but very much alive! He's now shocked that he all of a sudden decide to check out, by dying, altogether. Jeff doesn't realize that Margo, who's the person who really murdered her husband, is using him to get her out of the country and into Mexico. It's there where she has a secret bank account that's untraceable to her as Mrs. Lannigton, by under her maiden name, that can put her on easy street for the rest of her life.

Robert Mitchums best film-noir movie since "Out of the Past" back in 1947 has playing Mitchum against type as the law abiding and conscientious Dr. Jeff Cameron instead of some anti-hero type who feels that the world and cards of life are stacked against him. Margo herself is not only a cold-blooded murderess but is also suffering from a severe case of paranoid schizophrenia and has become so unstable that even Cameron with his head broken and slowly losing his ability, with him on the brink of suffering a fatal cerebral hemorrhage, to think correctly notices it. Cameron is just too weak and hurt to do anything to help both himself as well as Margo by not only having her apprehended by the police but getting her treated for her mental illness. It's obvious from Margo's actions that she'll eventually end up, if taken alive, in a mental hospital not a state penitentiary.

Powerful ending with Cameron falling victim to Margo's insanity as he refuses to go along with her across the border into Mexico. Cameron Knows that she'll only leave him there to either rot or be arrested, by being expedited back to the USA, for a murder that he didn't commit; that Margo, who did murder Frederick by suffocating him, set him up for.

Dumb doc digs dangerous dame

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 1 June 2002]

Foolish physician with a good practice and a loving mate fall for a mysterious woman who pops up in the emergency room late one night. After a whirlwind romance the doctor discovers a stunning revelation concerning his newfound flame. Immediately thereafter circumstances put the 2 on the road with the police in hot pursuit. Things went from bad to worse rapidly as the doctor's life became a living hell and he discovered the lady wasn't at all what she appeared to be. Dated but good.

The final days of film-noir...

[rockyqlz · 6/10 · 1 September 1999]

Robert Mitchum is crazy cool as always, but the film suffers from screaming predictability. From 1950, this movie was released in the last days of classic film noir. From reel one it's all there...You've got the chump, the average joe, the femme fatale...There's not a single surprise in this movie and you've seen it all before (and better).

Plot contrivances on parade

[jungophile · 6/10 · 25 April 2015]

By the time 1950 rolled around, I guess the film noir genre was getting a bit mannered in its delivery. "Where Danger Lives" is a classic example of hack work, albeit with a touch of style, and with Mitchum in the lead, it is, of course, eminently watchable. Claude Rains is superb as well, but unlike Mitchum, he has the good sense to make his contribution a cameo role. (I guess he knows "where danger lives," eh?)

Even Mitchum can't save this turkey, however, although he appears to be trying his best. The contrived and rudimentary plot doesn't help; star-crossed lovers on the run, trying to escape a murder rap and get across the border. On the positive side of the ledger, along with Mitchum, this film attains a generally nightmarish atmosphere of pervasive doom which is occasionally effective; it reminded me of Jim Thompson's novel "The Getaway" which was eventually made into a movie with Steve McQueen. In essence, it is a morality play, with Mitchum the noble doctor having the hots for this crazy psychopath, betraying his "good woman"(Maureen O'Sullivan), and paying for his carnal transgression again and again; this is probably the movie's main ace in the hole.

This nifty part of the movie is hamstrung by absurd plot contrivances and lazy screen writing, unfortunately. Three examples: every time a radio is turned on, you can bet you are about to get another prime nugget of expository information, perfectly timed and delivered on a silver platter. The "Whiskers Week" plot device is even more comically ridiculous, and lastly, with the amount of cops looking for these two, you would suspect that they murdered an entire classroom of small children or something. (Don't get me started on the "mewing cat" or you might get your eyes scratched out.)

Thankfully, this uneven and sloppy movie clocks in at an efficient 82 minutes, so no serious harm done. If you're a Mitchum fan like me, you'll probably want to give it a look; just don't expect too much, and you'll probably find it mildly diverting.

Fine Acting, Great Cinematography

[ZenVortex · 9/10 · 5 August 2008]

I really liked this movie. Faith Domergue is perfect as the scheming psychotic femme fatale. Claude Rains is excellent as her suave, slimy husband. And Robert Mitchum once again demonstrates his star quality as Domergue's dazed and confused lover, tumbling downstairs in his own stunt and staggering like a flesh-eating zombie toward the inevitable denouement at the Mexican border.

The movie starts slowly with Mitchum strutting his stuff as a doctor in a hospital. Then things get deliciously complicated when he falls for a beautiful, edgy, and manipulative patient (Domergue), who pulls him into her vicious web of intrigue and deception. There is a convincing fight scene with Rains, which leaves Mitchum seriously concussed and at the mercy of Domergue, who persuades him to flee with her to Mexico. Of course, you know they will never get there and the rest of the film follows them as they make their way through the various obstacles.

The Warner Classic Collection print was pristine with superb cinematography, lingering close-ups of the stars, and generally top-notch production. There are a lot of nice plot twists and I look forward to watching it again.

Where Danger Lives

[random_avenger · 6/10 · 5 November 2010]

Legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-1997) is perhaps best known for his work in the film noir genre, including classics like Out of the Past (1947) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). The 1950 road movie Where Danger Lives, directed by John Farrow, is not bad either, even though it does not fully reach the atmosphere and tension of the very best noirs out there.

The plot follows the traditional noir pattern (a man reluctantly facing increasing adversities and paranoia under a woman's influence) rather faithfully. A well-liked but not very well-off doctor named Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) helps to save the life of a beautiful female patient named Margo Lannington (Faith Domergue) after her suicide attempt. She invites him to her home to thank him and the two quickly fall in love, but she appears to have many secrets, starting with the man she introduces as her father (the great Claude Rains). After an unfortunate accident, Jeff finds himself and Margo heading towards Mexico while on the run from the law and a crippling head injury slowly eating away his ability to think and act clearly.

The plot itself provides no major surprises; instead, the special touch of the movie comes from the effect of Cameron's concussion which causes him to perceive everything more or less hazily. Mitchum always had a certain "sleepy" look to his face in the first place, but this extra twist makes him come across as a borderline sleepwalker, a style that I am not sure I like even though it is justified in the context of the story. The performance of Domergue as the femme fatale Margo is pretty good though; she shows decent range growing from worried to controlling and ultimately desperate, even though the big revelation regarding her past doesn't feel highly convincing. Many of the supporting actors do good jobs as well, such as Tol Avery as a shady car salesman "Honest Hal" and Philip Van Zandt as a touring cabaret show manager and human trafficker Milo DeLong.

What I think is the biggest flaw in an otherwise adequate movie is the lack of tightening tension and paranoid atmosphere, the staples of film noir. Jeff and Margo encounter numerous cops who inadvertently cause great stress especially to him, but somehow the uneasy atmosphere is not conveyed to the audience as powerfully as in many other films – probably due to the alienation caused by Jeff's head injury that Mitchum portrays so relentlessly. The dramatic finale is the only scene where the suspense becomes truly concrete, although many earlier parts are entertaining in a different way, for example the "Wild West Whiskers Week" festival in a small Arizona town.

Notwithstanding my complaints above, in the end I liked Where Danger Lives alright. The creeping sickness approach brings an interesting aspect to the storytelling, even if it also hurts the mood at points. The camera work and the black and white visuals are fine too, so noir fans have few reasons to not check the movie out. At only 82 minutes it is perfectly watchable for more casual film buffs as well.

Brilliant direction, spellbinding performances

[robert-temple-1 · 9/10 · 24 December 2007]

This is in the top rank of noir films. John Farrow's direction is absolutely brilliant, and raises this film to its high level of excellence. Faith Domergue, aged 26, is at her most succulent, petulant, and at the very highest end of the fatale spectrum. Her luscious lips are lingered over by the camera, her misty eyes, her welcoming and lingering look, how could Robert Mitchum resist? And he doesn't. But in noir, the bigger-eyed and more soulful the dame is, the deeper are her problems. Faith turns out to be seriously psychologically disturbed, indeed psychotic, whingeing that 'nobody pities me' after smothering her much older husband to death. Claude Rains is perfect as the husband. He is not on screen for long (Faith sees to that), but he sets the tone for the whole ensuing saga of desperate, paranoid fear and flight. It is true that this film, while appearing to show reality in a brutally frank and straightforward manner, becomes increasingly surreal. There is a brilliant cameo by Tol Avery as 'Honest Hal the used car salesman', which is terrifying in its contrast of bonhomie and jollity with sinister and unscrupulous manipulation. As Mitchum and Domergue run and run, trying to reach the Mexican border, they seem to be taking parallel journeys inside their own minds, which is truly 'where danger lives'. Mitchum has much more opportunity to do some real acting in this film than usual, and does it very well indeed. He spends much of the film concussed after a blow on the head with a fire poker, and he is particularly convincing at being confused, which helps the reality distortion grow and proliferate with such effect. This is very much an edge-of-the psychiatrist's couch thriller, and is harrowing in the extreme. The two characters are not only running from the police, they are running from something archetypal, from the bear, from the wolf, from whatever the monster is in the dream, the one that pursues us all and has done since we lived in caves and it tried to get in and eat us. The power of a woman to reduce a hulking hunk to a heap of jelly, to pulverise the intelligence of a sensible doctor and make him into an idiot, are well shown here. In the end, it works because Domergue is so utterly convincing as the character Margo Lannington. As my wife said to me while watching this film: 'I'm not ever going to let you meet any women called Margo.' Everyone can agree that, faced with Faith Domergue as she was in 1950, any man would be powerless to help himself. And by the way, Faith Domergue was her real name. She didn't even have to invent it, any more than she needed to invent her siren qualities. Just think how many of us are safe now that she's gone!

Not great, but above average noir.

[tom-676-843575 · 6/10 · 24 March 2024]

Well written. Well directed. Good story. Other than Mitchum; terrible acting. Overall, pretty decent noir film. Claude Rains also great for the whole five minutes he is in the movie. Must have owed the studio a film. Faith Domergur is excellent eye-candy but that's it. Typical Howard Hughes discovery/girl friend. I still recommend spending the 1:45 it takes to watch. Great location filming in Mojave Desert. Director Farrow is an often overlooked outstanding noir director. The Big Clock is one of his best. Mitchum great at this type of film. However, he doesn't play the stupid lovesick patsy quite as well as the hard-boiled or villain.

Regular doc falls for psycho femme fatale in this unconvincing Howard Hughes vehicle

[Turfseer · 5/10 · 12 November 2020]

In "Where Danger Lives," Faith Domergue takes on the role of Margo Lannington, the femme fatale with a notable history both on and off screen. Her affair with producer Howard Hughes, which began in 1942, eventually led her to signing a three-picture deal with RKO. Domergue later became known for her appearances in B sci-fi pictures during the 1950s. The film's protagonist is Dr. Jeff Cameron, played against type by Robert Mitchum, portraying a doctor working in a hospital and on the brink of starting his own private practice.

From the start, "Where Danger Lives" suffers from implausibility. Mitchum's character is thinly developed, with his only notable characteristics being his fondness for children and his relationship with a nurse at the hospital. The ethical concerns surrounding his immediate involvement with Margo, his patient and a suicide victim, are glaring. Furthermore, his lack of suspicion when she disappears from the hospital and invites him to her home is puzzling.

Regardless of these shortcomings, the good doctor inexplicably falls for the unstable Margo based solely on her looks, disregarding any knowledge of her true personality. One of the film's standout scenes occurs at the beginning of the second act, when Cameron meets Margo's alleged father, Frederick Lannington, portrayed brilliantly by Claude Rains. The encounter unravels the truth that Frederick is, in fact, Margo's husband. A physical altercation ensues between Cameron, already under the influence after excessive drinking at a restaurant, and Frederick, who falls and strikes his head. Later, we discover that while Frederick is unconscious, Margo suffocates him with a pillow.

During the fight, Cameron sustains a severe concussion from being struck with a poker by Lannington. This leaves him disoriented for the remainder of the film, allowing Margo to take advantage of his impaired state. Consequently, she devises a plan for the couple to escape across the Mexican border.

The fate of the newly minted fugitives unfolds through a series of peculiar scenes: abandoning the idea of taking a plane when they spot police presence at the airport, swapping Margo's convertible for an old pickup truck to throw off pursuers, being compelled to marry in a small town's "Wild West Whiskers Week" after Cameron fails to wear a fake beard, and Margo selling her valuable necklace to secure cash for a smuggler who arranges their transport in a truck as part of a circus troupe.

The problem with the entire scenario lies in Margo's one-dimensional character. Even considering her history of psychiatric issues, she remains unlikable and unsympathetic, making her demise from police bullets a welcome turn of events.

Meanwhile, Cameron survives Margo's attempt to smother him and manages to escape from their hiding place. Although he prevents Margo from reaching Mexico, he almost falls victim to her pistol. In a conflicted act, Margo provides an alibi for Cameron on her deathbed, stating that he had no involvement in her husband's demise.

While mildly intriguing, Domergue's portrayal falls short due to Margo's unlikability and predictable manipulations, making it difficult to maintain interest. Mitchum's role as the punch-drunk concussion victim restricts his performance, limiting his ability to bring depth to the character.

Despite its flaws, "Where Danger Lives" offers a curious watch, driven by Domergue's intermittent appeal and the atmospheric cinematography. However, the film's implausible elements and underdeveloped characters prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Good Mitchum, unconvincing Domergue...wasted O'Sullivan...

[Doylenf · 20 November 2003]

Robert Mitchum is such a sensible, caring and well-adjusted doctor in the beginning of WHERE DANGER LIVES that it seems incomprehensible that he would stumble into the trap that Faith Domergue sets for him. After getting involved romantically and telling him that she's afraid of her domineering father, he finds out that her "father" (Claude Rains) is really her husband--just the first of a web of lies and deception waiting for him. And this, despite the husband's strong warning.

As improbable as the story is, it has a certain fascination due to the film noir quality of the story-telling with Mitchum and Domergue on the run after the husband's death. Much of the flavor comes from Mitchum's strong performance. He manages to make his character fully believable despite the script shortcomings. Faith Domergue is photogenic but sullen and frozen-faced in her role of the psychotic heroine. Her performance has all the real-life dimension of a mannequin without the little nuances that would have made her a believably disturbed woman. As it is, Domergue offers nothing more than a superficial portrait.

Claude Rains has one scene of menace that he plays magnificently but has no more than a brief cameo role. Maureen O'Sullivan could have phoned in her role. She graces the brief role of a nurse in love with Mitchum, but the role has absolutely no significance in the plot and merely allows her to appear in one of her husband's films. (Hubby is John Farrow, father of Mia).

If you like film noir, this will do nicely although it's hardly one of the best of the genre. The real drawback is Miss Domergue who is unable to give more than a blank stare to most of her more emotional moments. Without Mitchum, there would be no conviction to any of the proceedings. For Mitchum fans, this is a good one.

Mitchum's the reason to see an otherwise average SoCal noir

[OldAle1 · 7/10 · 18 March 2008]

I'm still making my way through the excellent Warners film noir series; almost done with the 2fers now with this release. John Farrow must be best known for the noir he made the following year, His Kind of Woman which is really a delirious parody of the tough-guy genre, starring Robert Mitchum who also headlines this only slightly more serious example. Here Mitchum plays a much straighter, more upright character than usual, young Dr. Jeff Cameron who (rather inexplicably) falls immediately in love or lust with the erratic Margo Lannington (Faith Domergue), who introduces herself as the daughter of a wealthy man (Claude Rains) after Mitchum treats her for attempted suicide. He soon finds out that not all is at it seems with either Ms. Lannington or her "father" and soon the couple is on the run from the law, leaving behind both more stable if less exciting nurse who loves Jeff, and perhaps all chance of a normal life.

The film jumps around, at times seemingly at random, between a more comedic travlogue storyline and the darker noirish tones as Cameron struggles with the effects of a concussion while trying to get himself and the increasingly mad and dangerous Margo to the border and into Mexico. Call it a cross between 'It Happened One Night' and 'Double Indemnity', mood-wise, and if you're thinking that couldn't possibly work, you're right to some extent. Mitchum, the nice colorful flavor of the border towns the couple flee through, and quick pacing keep it quite watchable, but it's a mess overall and the comedic elements tend to rob it of tension. Still quite entertaining and a must for noir and/or Mitchum aficionados.

for a film based on such a daft idea, it has to turn out to be just that bit different

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 24 August 2007]

This movie is OK, but only OK and the acting about the same, the direction is OK too, but the story! Far fetched, laughable, ridiculous and verging on an insult to the audience's intelligence, this is of course just about kept afloat due to the efforts of Robert Mitchum (plus a fine cameo from Claude Rains). Even Mitchum has difficulty with some of the lines and actions and how he kept a straight face throughout must have been down to several takes. During the long scene towards the end when he has to stagger down the stairs and onto the street, I really felt for him because all that effort for a scene so stupid it was again laughable. Still, there is Mitchum, there is (briefly) Claude Rains and of course for a film based on such a daft idea, it has to turn out to be just that bit different.

Amour fou.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 3 June 2014]

Where Danger Lives is directed by John Farrow and written by Charles Bennett. It stars Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains and Maureen O'Sullivan. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

Upon tending to attempted suicide victim Margo Lannington (Domergue), Dr. Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) falls in love with her and quickly finds his life spiralling out of control.

Classic noir fable here, which begs the question on why is it not better known? More so when you consider it stars noir icon and legend Robert Mitchum? OK! Big Mitch never once convinces as a life saving doctor, but for a sad sap heavy eyed portrayal who you gonna call? Why Mitch of course. Thus the pic actually gets away with this odd bit of character casting, as it does the average performance from the otherwise lovely Domergue. Domergue was being pushed forward as Howard Hughes' latest siren of the screen, she would never attain great status, but she would grace many a "B" picture and become a cult fan favourite.

Dr. Cameron has it all, a great job and a pretty nurse (O'Sullivan) who loves him very much, but one peer into the puppy dog eyes of Margo Lannington and he's in hook, line and sinker. Film essentially turns into a lovers on the lam story as the two lovers head for the border after leaving the scene of a crime. As the journey progresses and gets ever more perilous, Margo begins to show erratic behaviour, while Jeff is struggling badly with a concussion that grows evermore acute. They meet an assortment of odd or unsavoury characters, a low life car dealer, weasel pawn broker, shyster club owner, the latter of which is currently airing a rather bizarre cabaret show.

They stop over in a noirville town where it's "Whisker Week", a backwater place where you are required to traditionally sport face fuzz on this particular week. Not only that but Margo and Jeff, minus whiskers and in confused states, end up being coerced into a bonkers marriage ceremony. It's all deliciously off kilter, the characterisations and situations marrying up deftly with Margo and Jeff's mental disintegration. Farrow adds his own directorial flourishes to the edgy mix, and Musuraca's photography is consistently gorgeous. All told it's as safe as noir houses for those of such noirish peccadilloes. 7.5/10

Faith Stealer

[Lejink · 7/10 · 21 February 2020]

Chalk up another referral for Karina Longworth whose book about the Hollywood life and times of Howard Hughes led me to this lesser known film noir, starring as it does Faith Domergue, one of the reportedly several young starlets the billionaire recluse harboured during his time in Tinseltown. This was her first major role and she's in good company with Robert Mitchum and Claude Rains as her co-stars in an entertaining if highly improbable film noir-cum-road movie the plot of which gradually reveals itself as it goes.

It starts with Domergue in a hospital bed, an apparent would-be suicide victim, who Mitchum's overworked doctor is pressed into yet more likely unpaid overtime to attend to. On the face of it happily going out with a diligent, doting if slightly dull nurse, once he brings Domergue round, he falls for her hook line and sinker, entering into a mad affair which will take in murder, an eventful road trip starting with the worst car trade-in deal you'll ever see in movies, a frankly bonkers run-in with a small-town bearded-weirdies festival, a later hook-up with carnival people and a final shoot-out and a great last-words scene from an expiring leading character.

Mitchum is the fly caught in femme-fatale Domergue's web, Rains his predecessor in the same trap but Domergue for me steals the show from her better known colleagues displaying at different times brazen sexual allure, starting face-up in a hospital gurney, then coy helplessness, frantic desperation and finally cold-blooded callousness by the end.

Well directed in the best noir fashion by John Farrow employing dark lighting, low-camera set-ups and cutting dialogue, its best to let yourself be led by events rather like Mitchum's character and not question them too much, no matter how unlikely they may seem. Your reward will be a taut and gritty little thriller well worth 82 minutes of your time, trust me.

Doctor in the House Where Danger Lives ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 11 October 2014]

Physician Bob Mitchum's encounter with an attempted suicide victim leads him to near ruin in this 1950 film. The woman is sly, cunning, mentally disturbed and a liar all in one.

Fascinated by her, he soon forgets about Nurse Maureen O'Sullivan and is introduced to the man he thinks is his father, Claude Rains who turns out to be her elderly husband.

Striking Rains in self defense, Mitchum leaves the room where unknown to him, our femme fatale finishes him via smothering. The rest of the film is devoted to the two attempting to cross the border into Mexico where our lady claims to have a cache of money hidden there. The escapades include a quick marriage for self-preservation. The two argue as it becomes increasingly clear that our lady, who gave a fine performance, is emotionally unbalanced to say the least.

A Bizarre Spin on the Noir Canon

[jzappa · 8/10 · 14 October 2011]

This peculiar excursion is skillfully shot by Nick Musuraca in the dark black and white nature of the genre in its era, and is capably helmed by John Farrow, who fruitfully captures these delirious visions. It's by and large a character study of an accomplished man blinded by lust, whose life disintegrates as it falls behind him. Mitchum is the guiltless man who is entrapped, but doesn't understand he's innocent until quite late. Too late? Only the will to live in spite of being so far out of his comfort zone and his senses can save him from this interesting spin on the framed-for-murder predisposition of the formula.

Mitchum, as was his modus operandi, once again put on airs of sleepy-eyed detachment and barrel-chested reserve, but in this case, he is interesting and sympathetic, realistically showing how a smart guy and such an experienced doctor could be in such a weak position. He genuinely and believably connects to the emotional and sensory reality of his bewildered character, whose feelings and senses are constantly in flux. Likewise, director John Farrow effectively taps the outlandish, hallucinatory traits in this customary noir plot: Mitchum spends the last half of the film barreling down the dirt roads of southern California with a concussion, fainting cyclically and awakening enclosed by some of the murkiest landscape the U.S. has to present.

Yes, Mitchum is cast against type as a stable professional, but actually, I think Faith Domergue is equally if not more accountable for the lack of artifice in Mitchum's performance than he is. From moment to moment, and this is most definitely a movie that lives in the present, she genuinely affects him. They're not just saying lines at one another, overlapping their words and movements with some programmed, bottled manner. The sultry, manic, hard-bitten, shifty-eyed edge is real. What's more, Claude Rains as always is superb, in a small role but a pretty important one, where his every motion looks to be controlled over a maniacal wrath all set to gush out, best illustrated by his malicious grin while meeting his wife's lover. And the film's a pleasingly bizarre screwball streak further sets it apart as a unique entry in the film noir canon.

Dangerous Women and Desperate Men - Mitchum in Action!

[ilpohirvonen · 6/10 · 11 November 2010]

Film-noir wasn't all about amazing masterpieces by Orson Welles, John Huston and Alfred Hitchcock. The genre is full of b-class stories from which the most remembered ones are by Edgar G. Ulmer and Joseph H. Lewis. Robert Mithcum was a big star of these b-class noir films, but he wasn't a bad actor at all. He made on impressive performance in a very good film-noir, which wasn't even close to a b-class movie, Out of the Past (1947) by Jacques Tourneur. Mitchum is also remembered for Angel Face (1952) also a film-noir. Moral complexity, outlaws, dangerous women and desperate men were the trademarks of the genre, which can all be found is this commercial - mostly made for entertainment - film by John Farrow, who directed a few other film-noirs as well such as Calcutta (1947), The Big Clock (1948), Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948) and His Kind of Woman (1951).

The direction by Farrow is at times very conventional and he accidentally makes unintentional comedy in a few scenes. The story gets going when Jeff Cameron, a doctor (an unusual role for Mitchum) sees a suicide patient at his department. The following day he gets a suspicious note from the woman and is asked to meet her at an apartment. Eventually Jeff falls in love with the woman and gets framed for a murder. The rest of the film shows the running away of Jeff and her lover.

Running away from the law was also a very common subject for film-noir. Anthony Mann's Desperate (1947) and Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) probably being the most remembered ones. Running away always meant something more than just the concrete escape. In Hitchcock's Spellbound John is running away from the police, but also from his subconsciousness. In Where Danger Lives Jeff (Mitchum) is running away from the law and the difficulty of stable life.

To my mind Where Danger Lives was a very well made film-noir. It is a very interesting film for all of those interested in film-noir and history of cinema, but it is also a treat for those who enjoy an entertaining thriller every now and then. Even that Mitchum's performance isn't the best one could find it has its own greatness - something similar that Vincent Price has. An entertaining common film-noir.

Another great performance from Robert Mitchum

[chris_gaskin123 · 8/10 · 21 November 2005]

I taped Where Danger Lives when BBC 2 screened it in the early hours recently.

A doctor and patient fall in love with each other, the doctor not aware of her being a mad woman. After he thinks he kills her husband by accident, they go on the run and head for Mexico but face plenty of obstacles on their way including a car crash and getting caught up in a small town's carnival of some sort. It's here where they get married and eventually, we learn what really happened to the woman's husband...

Shot well in black and white, this movie is fast paced and very atmospheric throughout, helped by the music score.

Joining the great Robert Mitchum (Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear) in the cast are Faith Domergue (This Island Earth, It Came From Beneath the Sea), Claude Rains (The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man) and Maureen O'Sullivan (Jane from some of the Weismuller Tarzan movies).

See this if you get the chance. Brilliant.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Weirdness Weakened By Clumsy Composite

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 23 July 2012]

A frightening film in some spots that is bothered by a few seemingly out of place plot devices that break down the wall of weirdness that the movie can't sustain. The worst is the whole section of small town hicks and their silly "must wear a beard" week. This is so ridiculous that it changes the tone drastically.

The beginning where the femme fatale snares her prey is really rushed and so abrupt as to be disorienting. It is presented and edited so jarringly rough that it leaves the viewer a bit apprehensive.

There are some snatches of brilliance here and some of it is pure Noir. It has a few very creepy visual ventures and the performances by all are quite good. Although, the complete picture, therefore, suffers from an incoherent, intrusive, combination of weak storytelling and sloppy assembly.

Overall it is worth a view for the better parts if you can forgive the clumsy composite.

One of Bob's Mistakes

[marcslope · 5/10 · 3 June 2013]

Mitchum plays a too-good-to-be-true doctor--his favorite duty is telling stories to sick children--about to leave fiancée Maureen O'Sullivan to pursue Faith Domergue, a sultry rich girl who's loonier than all of Toontown. Domergue, tailored by Howard Hughes to be a sort of second-unit Jane Russell, can't make sense of this crazy lady, and what starts out as a straightforward melodrama becomes an insane noir with more plot holes than a Swiss cheese. Soon the pair are on the run from having killed her husband Claude Rains, who, despite third billing, is on screen for all of six minutes, and Mitchum is suffering from a concussion which, he tells Domergue, will slowly paralyze and kill him, or maybe not. From there it's a road picture to the Mexican border, with some nice location photography, a no-name supporting cast, and plot implausibilities piling up on their way to an utterly impossible happy ending. Domergue's character is so controlling and freakazoid that we want nothing more than to see her die, and Mitchum, getting a good chance to make the most of his sleepy-eyed macho allure, struggles to keep us from disbelieving the incredible shifts in plot. It's watchable, but it smacks of increasing desperation.