On Dangerous Ground [VHS]
After a scalding first reel in big-city night streets, Nicholas Ray'sOn Dangerous Ground(RKO, 1951) forsakes familiar noir terrain for the countryside--the mountains and snowfields where city cop Robert Ryan seeks a psychotic killer. For both the actor and the director, Ryan's character is an exemplary creation: a man with personal demons whose overzealous pursuit of criminals has pushed him into sadism. His passage from urban darkness into the silent white mountain country becomes a redemptive journey, thanks largely to his interaction with a blind woman (Ida Lupino) in an isolated farmhouse whose younger brother may be the quarry he's after. Ray developed the screenplay with A.I. Bezzerides under the supervision of producer John Houseman (for whom Ray had made his feature debut,They Live by Night). The film boasts a thrilling music score by Bernard Herrmann, anticipating his great soundtrack forNorth by Northwest.--Richard T. Jameson