info-3508 "Where Danger Lives" is a surprisingly complex film noir with a deliciously vicious undertow. Robert Mitchum, Claude Rains and Faith Domergue are superb. What stands out is that Domergue is the strongest performance, and perhaps because she bears the strongest character. Domergue is refreshingly overpowering. If we consider that Harlow was actually a seasoned actress prior to "Hell's Angels," Domergue is arguably Hughes' best discovery. Seductive danger with surprise twists, indeed.

AaronCapenBanner John Farrow directed this melodramatic thriller that stars Robert Mitchum as Jeff Cameron, a well-liked doctor who one night treats an attempted suicide victim, who turns out to be an attractive but mysterious woman named Margo(played by Faith Domergue) He foolishly begins an affair with her, despite her being married to a man named Lannington(played by Claude Rains). Margo then causes him to kill her husband, which forces them to flee to Mexico, where they stay at a seedy border hotel, waiting on their chance to be smuggled out, even as the police close in... Good cast but film is overripe and uninvolving, with Mitchum playing a man who should be much smarter than he is!

bkoganbing Where Danger Lives was supposed to launch Faith Domergue's career as yet another of Howard Hughes's discoveries. Beauty she had with a good dose of slink eyed attractiveness that stood her in good stead in her role in this film. In support Hughes gave her RKO's number one leading man, Robert Mitchum and a good cast in support.Mitchum plays a doctor here who falls big time for Domergue the minute she gives him a come all glance. Problem is that she's slightly married to Claude Rains a rich older guy who's kind of used to her philandering, but not thrown in front of his face. Which is what she does with Mitchum and when Mitchum struggles with Rains he thinks that he's killed Rains. So Bob and Faith go on the run.A respected doctor and society woman you wouldn't think are good candidates to be fugitives. But they do all right for themselves up to a point despite many people looking to take advantage of them. My favorite is Tol Avery as one bottom feeding used car salesman with a most annoying laugh.They also do all right considering Domergue is not playing with a full deck, I think a whole suit of thirteen is missing from her 52. Add to that Mitchum has an untreated concussion which also slows them up a bit.Where Danger Lives is a decent noir film from the studio that made noir a fashionable genre. Too bad Claude Rains had to be killed right away, any film is made better with his presence. Director John Farrow's wife Maureen O'Sullivan has a brief part as a good girl Mitchum deserts for Domergue. Of course if Faith gives you the come on few could resist.According to the Lee Server biography of Robert Mitchum, the fall down a flight of stairs you see Mitchum do was really him and not a stuntman. Normally studios protect the high profile derrières of their stars, but when you've John Farrow directing who may have been the biggest directorial swine in Hollywood it's different. Farrow would challenge Mitchum's masculinity and that wasn't something Bob would back down from. But one take was definitely it.Where Danger Lives is a nice one from Mitchum's RKO salad days.

Ilpo Hirvonen Film-noir wasn't all about amazing masterpieces by Orson Welles, John Huston and Alfred Hitchcock. The genre is full of b-class stories from which the most remembered ones are by Edgar G. Ulmer and Joseph H. Lewis. Robert Mithcum was a big star of these b-class noir films, but he wasn't a bad actor at all. He made on impressive performance in a very good film-noir, which wasn't even close to a b-class movie, Out of the Past (1947) by Jacques Tourneur. Mitchum is also remembered for Angel Face (1952) also a film-noir. Moral complexity, outlaws, dangerous women and desperate men were the trademarks of the genre, which can all be found is this commercial - mostly made for entertainment - film by John Farrow, who directed a few other film-noirs as well such as Calcutta (1947), The Big Clock (1948), Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948) and His Kind of Woman (1951).The direction by Farrow is at times very conventional and he accidentally makes unintentional comedy in a few scenes. The story gets going when Jeff Cameron, a doctor (an unusual role for Mitchum) sees a suicide patient at his department. The following day he gets a suspicious note from the woman and is asked to meet her at an apartment. Eventually Jeff falls in love with the woman and gets framed for a murder. The rest of the film shows the running away of Jeff and her lover.Running away from the law was also a very common subject for film-noir. Anthony Mann's Desperate (1947) and Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) probably being the most remembered ones. Running away always meant something more than just the concrete escape. In Hitchcock's Spellbound John is running away from the police, but also from his subconsciousness. In Where Danger Lives Jeff (Mitchum) is running away from the law and the difficulty of stable life.To my mind Where Danger Lives was a very well made film-noir. It is a very interesting film for all of those interested in film-noir and history of cinema, but it is also a treat for those who enjoy an entertaining thriller every now and then. Even that Mitchum's performance isn't the best one could find it has its own greatness - something similar that Vincent Price has. An entertaining common film-noir.