Review of Cry Danger (1951) by Jay N — 14 Dec 2009

Cry Danger (1951).

Wow! I finally saw this movie on TCM and fell in love with it. This RKO film noir is fantastic with great acting and a smart, fast-moving dialog.

A small time wheelman, Rocky Mulloy (Dick Powell) gets off a train in LA, pardoned from a five year stint of a life sentence in prison. He's met at the station by detective Lieutenant Gus Cobb (Regis Toomey) and returning Veteran Delong (Richard Erdman).

Lieutenant Cobb warns Rocky that he's going to keep an eye on him until he finds him with the missing bankroll that he's still suspected of stealing. Or, to follow him to the people who did the stealing of it. That is, unless he gets himself shot in the process.

Delong, who got Rocky released as a missing witness to Rocky's alibi, is also going to hang around, if the bankroll shows up. He really didn't meet Rocky on that fateful day, but wants in on the money anyway. Delong becomes Rocky's drunken, one-legged sidekick. The problem is, that Rocky didn't have anything to do with the robbery or murder and is determined to get the guys who did and framed him.

He also wanted to clear his good friend who is still in prison. He moves into the trailer park that his friend's Wife, Nancy Morgan (Rhonda Fleming) is staying. Delong hooks up with a hot pick-pocketing blonde, Darlene LaVonne (Jean Porter), while Rocky goes after the gangster Louie Castro (William Conrad) who planned the whole bank job to begin with.

The movie is filled with wise-cracking dialog and deceptive femme fatales, and double-crosses, that you would come to expect from a Dick Powell film noir from the 50s. If you liked him in "Murder My Sweet", you'll love him in this one. The Los Angeles backdrop looks incredibly seedy and I love the boat of a car that these guys drive around LA in.