Above is one of the great film noir posters—the three-sheet promo for Where Danger Lives (presumably de-seamed by some enterprising Photoshopper). The movie starred Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, and the always excellent Claude Rains, and deals with a doctor who gets involved with a suicidal patient, a situation that simply can’t end well.
Like most noirs, Where Danger Lives is well regarded today, but it’s strictly second tier. That’s just our opinion. Some very knowledgeable reviewers love the movie. The problem for us is that Mitchum takes a blow to the head and never recovers from it, and watching him stagger around for half the flick’s running time making bad decisions because of a concussion just didn’t engage us.
More importantly there’s no real basis for his relationship with Domergue. Writing it into a script is not enough—the actors need to establish chemistry and heat to make recklessness understandable. When you start asking questions like, “But why would he have any interest in this crazy chick when he already has a great girlfriend?” (Maureen O’Sullivan) you know the movie is fatally flawed.
If you like noirs, you might be inclined to give this one’s failings a pass—after all, even so-so noir is better than 90% of what’s coming out of Hollywood today. And it has Mitchum, who’s also better than 90% of what’s coming out of Hollywood today. Where Danger Lives premiered in the U.S. today in 1950.
