Dangerous Crossing is a weak thriller with a plot familiar from
countless radio shows and movies: somebody claims that a relative or
friend has disappeared, but no evidence of the missing person's
existence can be found. This gimmick works well enough when encountered
for the first time, in movies like
Bunny Lake is Missing or the
relatively new Jodie Foster show
Flightplan. Fox's 1953 release
strands lovely Jeanne Crain among a no-star cast with only the
unemotional Michael Rennie to keep her company. Viewers who can't
figure out the mystery by the end of the first reel need a refresher
course of
Perry Mason TV episodes.
Synopsis: Happy newlywed Ruth Stanton Bowman (Jeanne Crain) checks on
board the
SS Monrovia with her husband John (Carl Betz), only to
be instantly thrown into a panic. John disappears, leaving her without
her passport; a thorough search of the ship turns up nothing. When
nobody on board can remember seeing John, the captain (Willis Bouchey)
assumes that Ruth is either pulling a stunt or insane. Ship's doctor
Paul Manning (Michael Rennie) takes an interest in Ruth's case and
tries to believe her side of the story. Ruth begins to crack up under
the strain, especially after she receives a mysterious nighttime phone
call -- from John.
Dangerous Crossing plays as what it is, a radio show enlarged
for the screen. Despite some atmospheric stalking scenes on the foggy
boat decks, everything is conveyed in tidy expositional dialogue;
little occurs that a blind person couldn't follow. Jean Crain is more
than acceptable as the standard anxious heroine, but the script does
her no favors. Following the format of a radio show, little patches of
voiceover serve to clarify situations. Ruth Bowman realizes that her
erratic behavior is becoming counterproductive, and we hear her
consciously decide to behave more calmly. Ms. Crain isn't allowed to
express a single thought without benefit of verbal explanation.
The rest of the show consists of scenes among a small number of
passengers that are either sincerely concerned for Ruth, or part of a
wicked conspiracy to drive her insane: it's "Ship of Gaslight". In the
midst of her anguish, Ruth has time to enjoy herself with deck sports
and dresses up to dine with the ship's doctor. By the time her
background as a wealthy heiress is telegraphed into the movie (with a
real telegram!) the mystery has become almost completely transparent.
The crisis is resolved in a brief 76 minutes, which includes a
redundant wrap-up scene to review details for comatose viewers.
Studio head Darryl Zanuck was known for riding close herd on his
scripts, and we can only assume that his attention was diverted by the
launch of Fox's CinemaScope process, a high-stakes gamble.
Dangerous
Crossing is one of the studio's last flat releases, quickly
confected to yield additional use from expensive shipboard sets
constructed for the studio's hits
Titanic and
Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes.
Michael Rennie is the same sincere but unexciting presence as he is in
most of his films. The script gives Carl Betz only a couple of minutes
on-screen, with the result that his character remains tied to the
film's trick premise. Mary Anderson and Marjorie Hoshelle's thankless
roles require them to maintain ambiguous, neutral attitudes throughout.
Jeanne Crain must carry the entire show single-handed, and that it
works as well as it does is a tribute to her talent.
The most successful version of this mystery gimmick is Alfred
Hitchcock's
The Lady Vanishes, no contest. Even back in 1938,
Hitchcock knew that the 'impossible disappearance' gag wouldn't stand
by itself, and his writers Launder Gilliat embroidered their story with
plenty of witty, intelligent surprises.
Dangerous Crossing pales
in comparison. Clearly instructed to wrap the shoot up in record time,
efficient director Joseph M. Newman films the script with a minimum of
involvement or passion. A stronger director would have insisted on
skipping those insulting 'inner voice' passages left over from the
radio concept, and found ways to convey at least some of the exposition
in images instead of words.
An even closer match can be found in a superior English thriller from
1950,
So Long at the Fair. An almost identical mystery unwinds
at the 1896 Paris Exposition, with young Jean Simmons searching for a
lost brother. The story elements are handled with much more care,
generating some genuinely frightening scenes.
Dangerous Crossing is an okay but undistinguished suspense
thriller that seems to have reached DVD to provide another title for
the
Fox Film Noir line. The film has scenes at night and a
heroine in distress, but never approaches the minimal definition of a
Film Noir. It's too bad that legal obstacles continue to block home
video releases of the classic Fox Noirs
Cry of the City and
Boomerang!
Fox's DVD of
Dangerous Crossing is a fine transfer and encoding
of a B&W picture that probably hasn't been out of the vault in decades.
It's been given a full contingent of extras, which in this case amounts
to embarrassing overkill.
Historian Aubrey Solomon contributes a pleasant commentary that quickly
runs out of specifics about the movie. Solomon fills the extra time
with good rundowns on the career of Darryl Zanuck and the history of
the Fox lot. At one point he falls victim to the trap of using the IMDB
as a quick resource to rattle off film credits. Solomon mentions the
director Joseph M. Newman's movie "War of the Planets". Sure enough,
the IMDB lists Newman's classic Sci-Fi film
This Island Earth,
and for some reason also includes, as a separate production, the home
movie souvenir cut-down version issued by Castle Films, re-titled "War
of the Planets". Oops. On the positive side, Mr. Solomon offers a great
insights about the radio play adaptation, including one that undercuts
Dangerous Crossing's very premise. Discussing it would spoil the
movie's one good surprise.
The featurette
Peril at Sea presents good film clips showing how
Dangerous Crossing's hand-me-down sets were used in other,
bigger films. Jeanne Crain's granddaughter is on hand to talk about her
famous relative ("She was bigger than life"). Noir experts Eddie Muller
and Alan Rode appear with Robert Osborne in interview clips clearly
taped in sessions covering many films at once. As there's nothing
remotely distinguished about
Dangerous Crossing, the discussions
never get beyond generalities. Osborne says that the film has great
qualities, and then explains that its great quality is being a good
example of the efficiency of the Fox studio system. That's like
praising one's fiancée because she's an outstanding example of
an average woman.
A pressbook, a still gallery and an anemic trailer appear, but the best
extra by far is an isolated track containing Lionel Newman's score. Fox
has been adding isolated tracks a lot lately, and fans of music scores
really appreciate them.
For more information about
Dangerous Crossing, visit
Fox Home Entertainment. To order
Dangerous Crossing, go to
TCM Shopping
by Glenn Erickson
Dangerous Crossing is a weak thriller with a plot familiar from
countless radio shows and movies: somebody claims that a relative or
friend has disappeared, but no evidence of the missing person's
existence can be found. This gimmick works well enough when encountered
for the first time, in movies like
Bunny Lake is Missing or the
relatively new Jodie Foster show
Flightplan. Fox's 1953 release
strands lovely Jeanne Crain among a no-star cast with only the
unemotional Michael Rennie to keep her company. Viewers who can't
figure out the mystery by the end of the first reel need a refresher
course of
Perry Mason TV episodes.
Synopsis: Happy newlywed Ruth Stanton Bowman (Jeanne Crain) checks on
board the
SS Monrovia with her husband John (Carl Betz), only to
be instantly thrown into a panic. John disappears, leaving her without
her passport; a thorough search of the ship turns up nothing. When
nobody on board can remember seeing John, the captain (Willis Bouchey)
assumes that Ruth is either pulling a stunt or insane. Ship's doctor
Paul Manning (Michael Rennie) takes an interest in Ruth's case and
tries to believe her side of the story. Ruth begins to crack up under
the strain, especially after she receives a mysterious nighttime phone
call -- from John.
Dangerous Crossing plays as what it is, a radio show enlarged
for the screen. Despite some atmospheric stalking scenes on the foggy
boat decks, everything is conveyed in tidy expositional dialogue;
little occurs that a blind person couldn't follow. Jean Crain is more
than acceptable as the standard anxious heroine, but the script does
her no favors. Following the format of a radio show, little patches of
voiceover serve to clarify situations. Ruth Bowman realizes that her
erratic behavior is becoming counterproductive, and we hear her
consciously decide to behave more calmly. Ms. Crain isn't allowed to
express a single thought without benefit of verbal explanation.
The rest of the show consists of scenes among a small number of
passengers that are either sincerely concerned for Ruth, or part of a
wicked conspiracy to drive her insane: it's "Ship of Gaslight". In the
midst of her anguish, Ruth has time to enjoy herself with deck sports
and dresses up to dine with the ship's doctor. By the time her
background as a wealthy heiress is telegraphed into the movie (with a
real telegram!) the mystery has become almost completely transparent.
The crisis is resolved in a brief 76 minutes, which includes a
redundant wrap-up scene to review details for comatose viewers.
Studio head Darryl Zanuck was known for riding close herd on his
scripts, and we can only assume that his attention was diverted by the
launch of Fox's CinemaScope process, a high-stakes gamble.
Dangerous
Crossing is one of the studio's last flat releases, quickly
confected to yield additional use from expensive shipboard sets
constructed for the studio's hits
Titanic and
Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes.
Michael Rennie is the same sincere but unexciting presence as he is in
most of his films. The script gives Carl Betz only a couple of minutes
on-screen, with the result that his character remains tied to the
film's trick premise. Mary Anderson and Marjorie Hoshelle's thankless
roles require them to maintain ambiguous, neutral attitudes throughout.
Jeanne Crain must carry the entire show single-handed, and that it
works as well as it does is a tribute to her talent.
The most successful version of this mystery gimmick is Alfred
Hitchcock's
The Lady Vanishes, no contest. Even back in 1938,
Hitchcock knew that the 'impossible disappearance' gag wouldn't stand
by itself, and his writers Launder Gilliat embroidered their story with
plenty of witty, intelligent surprises.
Dangerous Crossing pales
in comparison. Clearly instructed to wrap the shoot up in record time,
efficient director Joseph M. Newman films the script with a minimum of
involvement or passion. A stronger director would have insisted on
skipping those insulting 'inner voice' passages left over from the
radio concept, and found ways to convey at least some of the exposition
in images instead of words.
An even closer match can be found in a superior English thriller from
1950,
So Long at the Fair. An almost identical mystery unwinds
at the 1896 Paris Exposition, with young Jean Simmons searching for a
lost brother. The story elements are handled with much more care,
generating some genuinely frightening scenes.
Dangerous Crossing is an okay but undistinguished suspense
thriller that seems to have reached DVD to provide another title for
the
Fox Film Noir line. The film has scenes at night and a
heroine in distress, but never approaches the minimal definition of a
Film Noir. It's too bad that legal obstacles continue to block home
video releases of the classic Fox Noirs
Cry of the City and
Boomerang!
Fox's DVD of
Dangerous Crossing is a fine transfer and encoding
of a B&W picture that probably hasn't been out of the vault in decades.
It's been given a full contingent of extras, which in this case amounts
to embarrassing overkill.
Historian Aubrey Solomon contributes a pleasant commentary that quickly
runs out of specifics about the movie. Solomon fills the extra time
with good rundowns on the career of Darryl Zanuck and the history of
the Fox lot. At one point he falls victim to the trap of using the IMDB
as a quick resource to rattle off film credits. Solomon mentions the
director Joseph M. Newman's movie "War of the Planets". Sure enough,
the IMDB lists Newman's classic Sci-Fi film
This Island Earth,
and for some reason also includes, as a separate production, the home
movie souvenir cut-down version issued by Castle Films, re-titled "War
of the Planets". Oops. On the positive side, Mr. Solomon offers a great
insights about the radio play adaptation, including one that undercuts
Dangerous Crossing's very premise. Discussing it would spoil the
movie's one good surprise.
The featurette
Peril at Sea presents good film clips showing how
Dangerous Crossing's hand-me-down sets were used in other,
bigger films. Jeanne Crain's granddaughter is on hand to talk about her
famous relative ("She was bigger than life"). Noir experts Eddie Muller
and Alan Rode appear with Robert Osborne in interview clips clearly
taped in sessions covering many films at once. As there's nothing
remotely distinguished about
Dangerous Crossing, the discussions
never get beyond generalities. Osborne says that the film has great
qualities, and then explains that its great quality is being a good
example of the efficiency of the Fox studio system. That's like
praising one's fiancée because she's an outstanding example of
an average woman.
A pressbook, a still gallery and an anemic trailer appear, but the best
extra by far is an isolated track containing Lionel Newman's score. Fox
has been adding isolated tracks a lot lately, and fans of music scores
really appreciate them.
For more information about
Dangerous Crossing, visit
Fox Home Entertainment. To order
Dangerous Crossing, go to
TCM Shopping
by Glenn Erickson
