Superb classic
If you enjoy witty dialogue and a tight, fast-paced detective-film noir genre story, with excellent performances by top stars, *THIS* is your movie.
Dick Powell is in top form again (and he's always great!) playing the part of Rocky Mulloy, a bookie who has just been released from prison after serving five years of a life term for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's determined to find out who framed him - and to find the missing $100,000 he was supposed to have stolen.
Nobody wants him to re-open the case, and a cop who is convinced he's guilty is watching his every move, waiting for a slip up that will give him a chance to send Rocky back to prison.
The man who gave him the alibi that got him released from prison shows up and adds a major surprise twist to the story. Although Powell isn't a detective per se, as he was in the equally great "Murder, My Sweet" (another wonderful classic must-have for fans of detective noir films), he has a plan to find...
Sorely Underappreciated Masterpiece of Atmospheric Noir
From my review of the film on the IMDB...
An undiscovered gem that is virtually ignored altogether now (and perhaps then as well), "Cry Danger" is undoubtedly in my top ten favorite film noirs of all time. Many people will chalk this up to pure foolishness or relative inexperience with the genre on my part, but before you form these opinions, let me state my case.
From the first long-angled shot of this film, the richly-textured atmospheric style is laid out. Our lead character steps off a train, fresh out of the jail where he spent five years of his life paying for somebody else's crime. He looks down a long, cylindrical tunnel at the station. The exit. But the tunnel represents something else. It represents the life he left as a younger man and the life he must return to as a forsaken, middle-aged, unemployed former gangster. It represents his cloudy, uncertain future, and his clinging reluctance to meet with it.
From there, we're introduced to...
A Solid Movie for Tough Guy Powell
Another crime/noir which should be on DVD. Dick Powell and his best friend have been convicted of taking part in an armed robbery. After five years in the pen he wins a pardon when an old Marine buddy shows up to provide an alibi. But Powell has never met the guy before, and the fellow (Richard Erdman), admits he's along to find the missing $100,000 that was taken in the robbery. Powell, who was innocent, is determined to find out who was behind sending him to prison and to get his buddy released. He meets up with the woman he still loves, Rhonda Fleming, who had married his buddy. He is determined to do the right thing while extracting justice.
This is a nice crime film with a noir look about it. The movie has a good script with some good lines, and it's directed in a craftsmanlike way that keeps things moving without loose ends. It has some weaknesses, though, that keep it from moving into the top rank. Primarily, these center on Fleming and William Conrad, who's the bad...
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