“West of Shanghai” director John Farrow’s psychological melodrama “Where Danger Lives” ranks as one of the best all-time film noir thrillers. Furthermore, “Out of the Past” tough guy Robert Mitchum plays a different kind of noir protagonist. Instead of a blue-collar, gun-toting hardnose, Mitchum is cast as a professional, a doctor with a pleasant bedside manner, who neither brandishes a pistol nor beats anybody to a pulp with brass knuckles. Indeed, the first time we lay eyes on him, he is telling an adolescent girl encased in an iron lung a bedtime story about Elmer the Elephant. Nevertheless, like a quintessential noir male, Mitchum swallows every lie this duplicitous dame, Margo (Faith Domergue of “This Island Earth”), conjures up. Mitchum delivers one of his finest performances as Dr. Jeff Cameron, a caring, compassionate, human being who epitomizes the essence of the Hippocratic Oath. His first encounter with the treacherous Margo occurs when this suicidal siren, looking absolutely stunning, is brought in a hospital examination suite. Margo bewitches Jeff, enough that he forfeits all interest in his current girlfriend, nurse Julie Dorn (Maureen O’Sullivan of “Tarzan”), who he had been planning to wed. Comparably, unlike Margo, Julie is neither mysterious nor deceitful.
Unfortunately, Jeff is helpless when he comes under the spell cast on him by his leading lady. Domergue gives an equally stalwart performance as the addled dame who leads the clueless Mitchum astray. Later, Margo decides to ditch Jeff to board a plane with her father, Frederick Lannington (Claude Rains of “Casablanca”), and leave Jeff behind. The good doctor refuses to let Margo out of his sight. Boldly, he hires a Yellow Cab to take him out to Margo’s elegant estate. While he visits there, our protagonist learns to his chagrin that Lannington isn’t Margo’s father as she has told him. Instead, Lannington is her husband! Jeff is thunderstruck by this dramatic reversal. She tells Jeff that she married Lannington for his money, and he reciprocates and admits he married Margo for her youth. Lannington ushers Jeff in for drinks. A brief but savage fight erupts between these two with Margo watching the two men clash over her. Frederick seizes a fireplace poker and wields it like a madman, clobbering our hero repeatedly. Finally, Jeff knocks Frederick flat on his back with a fistful of knuckles to chin. The older man staggers backwards from the impact and collapses unconscious by the fireplace.
Frederick’s violent blows to Jeff’s head mark a turning point. “39 Steps” scenarist Charles Bennett and “All Through the Night” writer Leo Rosten send Jeff into a bathroom. Farrow stages this scene so we see not only Jeff but also his reflection in a huge mirror while he is bathing his head wounds. For the rest of “Where Danger Lives,” Jeff suffers miserably from the adverse effects of a concussion. Later, he warns Margo that his condition will progressively deteriorate. Eventually, he might not be able to walk. Indeed, Jeff’s prediction comes true, as he steadily go downhill until he pales by comparison to his former self. Actually, this scene serves a pivotal function. Never again is Jeff the same person after his fracas with Frederick. When he comes back to examine Margo’s husband, she informs him that her jealous husband is dead. Initially, Jeff is incredulous. Frederick was still breathing when Jeff left him to bathe his own wounds. Together, Jeff and Margo become a fugitive couple on the lam. They set their sights on the Mexican border, but they must sell Margo’s Cadillac for a vehicle less conspicuous because the police know about it. Ironically, Jeff and Margo never cross the border.
“Where Danger Lives” slackens its own suspense when a radio newscaster reveals the cause of Frederick’s death. No, he did not die from a blow to the head. Instead, he died from being smothered under a pillow. Later, Margo in a fit of desperation tries to smother Jeff with a pillow. She doesn’t has enough time to asphyxiate him, because she wants to catch a ride across the border with a theatrical troupe. Despite being nearly suffocated to death, Jeff survives the ordeal and pursues Margo. Now, our misguided hero is in deplorable condition. Wanting nothing more to do with Jeff after she has sold a prized bracelet to get a ride across the line, Margo is shocked to see him staggering after her. Palming a small caliber handgun from her purse, Margo fires several shots at him. An observant lawman nearby blazes away at her with his revolver and Margo goes down. “Where Danger Lives” winds up with a happy ending. Not only is Jeff cleared of Frederick’s murder, but also he rekindles his romance with Julie. John Farrow never lets the momentum slacken in this tense, 82-minute film noir thriller.
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