During the late-1940s, Jeanne Crain was a favorite of Fox Studio head Daryl F. Zanuck. She appeared in a string of successful movies (Winged Victory, State Fair, Leave Her to Heaven, Apartment for Peggy, A Letter to Three Wives, Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel, Belles on Their Toes, People Will Talk, and received an Oscar nomination in Elia Kazan's movie about passing for white, Pinky). According to Robert Osborne in the documentary about the 1953 "Dangerous Crossing," Zanuck was tired of Crain being unavailable because she was pregnant. She made 21 movies between 1943 and 1953, I note, but she also had four of the seven children she bore while she was under contract to Zanuck).

Zanuck wanted Crain to play Eve Harrington in "All About Eve," but writer/producer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz refused, saying she was "a pretty and hard-working young woman, but not much of an actress."

Although I've seen many movies with Crain, none of her performances are especially memorable. She is onscreen most of the 75 minutes of "Dangerous Crossing" without making much of an impression on me.

At the start, in a full-length fur coat Crain is looking around on the dock of an ocean liner. Her husband (as of the night before, played by Carl Betz, who would later play Donna Reed's husband on her tv series) shows up and they go up the gangplank, though he is significantly far behind her when her sleeve catches on the railing at the top.

Mr Bowman carries Mrs. Bowman across the threshold of cabin B16. Inside the room is chambermaid Anna Quinn (Mary Anderson). Hubby tells wifey he needs to stash some cash at the purser's office and to meet him in the bar in 15 minutes.

He does not show up, and when she returns to her stateroom it is locked. There is no record of any Bowmans, but Ruth Stanton is listed as being in cabin B18. Her bags (but not his) are there. Anna denies having seen the newlyweds in B16, which is not booked for the voyage.

Ruth realizes she knows very little about her husband. She is certain he is on board, because she gets calls from him, but there is no evidence to back up her claims to being married that anyone else can see. Moreover, getting into the festive mood at the launch, she was waving along with others but to no one in particular.

The tall (and to me emaciated-looking) Dr. Paul Manning (Michael Rennie, who was there "The Day the Earth Stood Still") attempts to calm her down and get her to consider that she is mistaken about having a husband, particularly one somewhere on board.

The viewer has seen and heard him and knows she is not crazy. We know she is being gaslighted, and eventually know why when Dr. Manning asks the "Cui buono?" question (who would benefit from her death -- or commitment to a mental hospital, though this is not explicitly mentioned).

The new DVD rolled out with a full-length commentary track by Aubrey Solomon (not as good as Eddie Muller on some other Fox Noir DVDs) and a documentary with a grand-daughter of Crain's, Robert Osborne, and others is in the "Fox Noir" series. The movie was shot in black-and-white, I guess an ocean liner can be considered a city of sorts since most of the people don't know each other, and most of it takes place at night -- and with lots of fog. It seems more a combination of espionage thriller and woman in peril -- in the tradition of "The Lady Vanishes." Also like "A Lady Vanishes," is a variant on the "locked room" mystery genre (the room being a railroad in Hitchcock's movie, the ocean liner here). It is the husband who vanishes in "Dangerous Crossing,. There is a suitably sinister-looking Germanic passenger with an alarming tap-tap-tapping cane (Karl Ludwig Lindt). The characters who are onscreen the most (Ruth and Dr. Manning) lack the moral ambivalence of noir protagonists. If "Dangerous Crossing: is a "noir" it is an outlier. It was also the end of the line of noirish movies from Fox as Zanuck was enamored with Cinemascope and Big Pictures (not just in the size of the projected image). Material like "Dangerous Crossing," which had started as a radio drama, would be consigned to the emerging rival medium of television. And with the demise of the studio system, Crain's stardom ended with her Fox conract's expiration.

The documentary, "Peril at Sea: Charting a Dangerous Crossing" --showing recycled sets (Titanic, Gentleman Prefer Blondes) and even Celeste Holm's party dress from "All About Eve") and discussing how a movie could be shot in existing sets in 19 days for half a million dollars, using contract players -- was more interesting to me than the predictable movie about a woman driven to seem hysterical -- something many other actresses could have done better than Crain IMO.

I wish there was more discussion of the real star (at least for me), cinematographer
Joseph LaShelle, who shot the legendary high-society noir "Laura." LaShelle shoots Crain as glamorously as he shot Gene Tierney, but Tierney was a more interesting and conflicted actress than Crain acting hysterical.
As with other obscure movies from the Fox vault resurrected as "Fox Noir" DVDs, the images and bonus features are top-rate. (The original theatrical trailer, which is included, gives away more of the plot than my review does.) The movie itself is not bad. Mary Anderson is the stand-out in the cast with faux-sympathy malice.

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© 2008, Stephen O. Murray

This is a part of the black and white movie writeoff in memory of Isinga. Other contributions are listed at the bottom of http://www.epinions.com/content_5228634244

(Having added this w-o information I was unable to get my posting out of "update" mode in six attempts over the course of two days, so deleted it and am reposting it, so that it can be visible. Making content visible is not a priority for epinions, as the hideous search engine shows. And what has happened to linking to other epinions???)




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD