On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie Review

Anti-Noir

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 14, 2016

It took years for the virtues of Nicholas Ray's 1952 On Dangerous Ground to be recognized, because, like its police detective protagonist, it has an off-putting exterior. A crime story where the crimes aren't important, a detective tale without any mystery and an unremittingly bleak portrayal of humanity into which love and hope suddenly erupt, Ray's film consistently subverts expectations. Just as you think it's going one way, it changes direction. On Dangerous Ground employs all of the tropes that would later be identified as "film noir", but it separates itself from the genre by taking a firm stance against the cynicism it so graphically depicts.

The Warner Archive Collection is adding On Dangerous Ground to its expanding collection of restored black-and-white classics on Blu-ray. As more fully discussed in the "Video" section, WAC has gone to unusual lengths to create a new master worthy of the format, with stunning results.

On Dangerous Ground is an extended character study of a man who seems damaged beyond repair, a police detective in an unidentified city named Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan, in what is widely recognized as one of his best performances). Unmarried and living alone, Wilson cruises the urban streets at night with two partners, Pop Daly and Pete Santos (Charles Kemper and Anthony Ross), where steady exposure to the worst of humanity has left him an emotional burnout seething with anger. Daly and Santos have families and home lives, but Wilson has only the job. At the moment, the entire force has mobilized to find the two killers of a fellow cop. Acting on a tip, Wilson and his partners develop a useful lead, but in the process Wilson administers several beatings of such savagery that his boss, Capt. Brawley (Ed Begley), decides to send him on an assignment out of town for what the captain clearly intends to be an enforced vacation.

Wilson's assignment in the wintry countryside north of the city turns out to be anything but restful. He is supposed to assist the local sheriff (Ian Wolfe) in apprehending the killer of a young girl, but Wilson quickly finds himself in the unaccustomed position of having to defend the suspected killer, a teenager named Danny Malden (Sumner Walden), from the vigilante fury of the victim's father (Ward Bond). As Wilson works through his familiar investigative routine asking questions and following leads, all of his expectations are upended. The victim's family becomes the enemy; the likely killer becomes a potential victim he must try to save; and local law enforcement simply stands aside and watches.

A key player in this game of reversal is young Danny Malden's sister, Mary, in a performance of quiet intensity by Ida Lupino (who doesn't appear until halfway through the picture even though she receives top billing). Mary Malden isn't anything like the floozies with whom Wilson is used to dealing in an investigation. She's protective of her brother to the point of withholding evidence and information, but the strain of doing so is evident in her every word and gesture. Mary is caught in an impossible dilemma, torn between shielding young Danny from harm and knowing, in her heart of hearts, that he cannot escape the consequences of a horrible crime. Her struggle to reconcile opposing impulses of goodness that cannot both be satisfied radiates from Mary in a way that Wilson finds transfixing. It's as if he's suddenly been reminded that there are decent people in this world.

Ray co-scripted the film with screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides (Kiss Me Deadly), and he tells the story with deceptive simplicity, using the visual contrast between the cramped, dark city environs and the country's expansive fields and peaks (photographed in Colorado) to convey Wilson's transformation. The murder investigation and the pursuit of Danny Malden reach their inevitable conclusion, but what lingers after the credits roll is the nagging question of what happens next with Wilson. Studio owner Howard Hughes insisted on a more positive ending than the one Ray and Bezzerides originally intended, but even with that extra blast of optimism, one is left to ponder whether someone who begins in such darkness can ever fully emerge into the light.

On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

On Dangerous Ground presented a special challenge for the Warner Archive Collection. The previous DVD was made from the best element in Warner's library, a fine-grain master positive that, upon close examination, was determined to be incapable of yielding an image of sufficient quality for Blu-ray. Accordingly, WAC made the expensive decision to return to the original camera negative ("OCN"), which is held by the Library of Congress in special storage conditions required for nitrate elements. The OCN was transported to California, where it was scanned at 4K by Warner's Motion Picturing Imaging facility. Extensive color-correction and cleanup followed, but one happy discovery was the OCN's relative lack of damage, probably because the film's poor box office meant that fewer release prints were struck.

The result of this process on WAC's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is a rich, smooth image that allows a full appreciation of the film's elegant black-and-white photography by cinematographer George E. Diskant (Kansas City Confidential). The dark, shadowy city scenes feature deep blacks (and differing shades of black), while the country sequences are brightly lit with white snow, clouds and rocks. Finely delineated shades of gray reveal detail in faces, costumes and surroundings, and the film's grain pattern is so tightly resolved that it could easily pass unnoticed. The resolution in this presentation is good enough to render the use of rear projection almost too obvious; a notable example occurs near the film's end, when Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino are walking together outdoors, and the scene cuts from a location shot to a reshoot photographed on a soundstage.

As per its customary mastering practices, WAC has mastered On Dangerous Ground at a high average bitrate of 34.99 Mbps.

On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

On Dangerous Ground's original mono track has been taken from the original soundtrack negative, cleaned of any age-related pops, clicks or interference and encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The incisive strings of Bernard Herrmann's distinctive score introduce the film, and the score as a whole is a crucial component of the story's emotional layers. It sound terrific, without any obvious harshness or distortion. The dialogue is clearly rendered, as are the sound effects that distinguish between city and country environments.

On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Warner previously released a DVD of On Dangerous Ground as part of its 2006 volume 3 of Film Noir Classics. The extras have been ported over from that DVD, with the trailer remastered in 1080p.

• Commentary with Film Historian Glenn Erickson: Erickson, who is better known by his online monicker, "DVD Savant", provides an encyclopedic account of the film's development, casting and production, as well as the lengthy post-production tinkering that was common with RKO films under the oversight of Howard Hughes. The commentary is essential film history, and its only negative is that Erickson is obviously reading from a prepared script, which makes his delivery less conversational.



• Trailer (1080p; 1.37:1; 2:10): "A Strange Love Story to Hold You Thrill-and-Terror Bound!" (Well, that's one interpretation.)

On Dangerous Ground Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

On Dangerous Ground is very obviously a film of the Fifties, but it doesn't feel dated, precisely because there's nothing quite like it. Its peculiar mixture of noir elements, unexpected plotting and unpredictable characters elevates the film above genre and place it in a category of its own. WAC's rendition is by far the best the film has ever looked on video and is highly recommended.