Dangerously They Live

It's not Hitchcock quality, but this yarn about World War II espionage in New York is fast-paced fun. It lives up to its intriguing title.

Nancy Coleman plays a beautiful British agent who's hiding a big secret and trying to keep one step ahead of the Nazis. When she briefly lands in a hospital, she fakes amnesia to fool her pursuers, then confides in a young intern (played by John Garfield). Though he likes her looks, he doesn't believe a word of her story, and the two find themselves in plenty of hot water before they finally turn into an effective team.

I have read that Garfield resented having to make this movie. Maybe he preferred "serious" films to escapism, but maybe he just disliked the character he played. The young intern is really dimwitted. It takes clue after clue to convince him that the conspiracy is real. And even afterward, he keeps falling for the Nazis' tricks. He's constantly exclaiming, either with words or with his facial expression, "Gosh, now I get it!" Coleman's character is the bright one. Her spy is resourceful and tough (though more reckless than she ought to be).

The villains are the real stars here. Raymond Massey is always terrific as a manipulative fiend, and Moroni Olsen keeps up with him as his fellow ringleader. When the two ruthless Nazis turn on the charm and pull the wool over decent people's eyes, you want to laugh and hiss at the same time. The contrast between their skillful charade and the transparent thuggery of their minions (played by such veteran heavies as John Harmon and Ben Welden) adds some comic relief.

The end is fairly predictable and less clever than the beginning. (This is not Hitchcock, as noted before.) But unless you truly hate romantic spy films, "Dangerously They Live" will give you a few smiles.

Nothing to complain about concerning acting, directing because it is a Warner Bros film, so very fast paced without any length, no scene in excess, no, the problem is that it is a dull espionnage yarn, anti Nazi, so predictable that it is a shame that John Garfield, the most gifted actor of his time, the announced heir of Humphrey Bogart, was involved in this so lousy story where everything is written ten miles in advance. And the sequence when Garfield falls - not jumps, falls - from the second floor balcony and then stands up quietly, just as if he stood up from the lawn after taking a sunbath, this scene is just awful to watch...I reject this movie from such a talented director, who gave us authentic film noirs, real dark, terrific - CROOKED WAY, JOHNNY ONE EYE, KING OF ALCATRAZ instead of this one.

Working for a British group, pretty Nancy Coleman (as Jane) is kidnapped in a New York cab. An unexpected car accident lands her in the temporary safety of a hospital, under the care of unlikely intern John Garfield (as Michael "Mike" Lewis). Mr. Garfield wants to investigate Ms. Goodman because he's interested in amnesia cases. Garfield becomes even more intrigued when Coleman tells him she's not really forgetful, but being pursued by Nazi spies. Coleman doesn't want to go home with the man claiming to be her father, but he produces family pictures proving she's her daughter.

Psychic amnesia expert, and former Garfield professor, Raymond Massey (as Ingersoll) is hired as head shrink, by the wealthy Goodwin family. They have trouble getting "daughter" Coleman to return home, so Mr. Massey suggests Garfield come along as in-house physician. Garfield thinks their mansion is beautiful, but Coleman says it's a "concentration camp." It's really too bad "Dangerously They Live" makes it clear who the bad guys are, because this picture had greater potential.

Marion Parsonnet's story should have received a better treatment. It has a Hitchcockian sensibilities, but squanders much suspense potential. Imagine, for instance, a little re-writing and re-editing to make the moment Garfield receives the "Get the girl out of here - she is in grave danger" note the moment you KNOW, for sure, who is telling the truth. And, it would have been easy to adjust Garfield's "intern" character (and wardrobe) to more flatter the actor. He does as well as possible with the assignment, however. Robert Florey's direction, Coleman's debut performance, and Massey are impressive.

******* Dangerously They Live (12/24/41) Robert Florey ~ John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey, Moroni Olsen

I was very pleased to finally see this film again after many years. I can never understand why other people complain about the storyline or some of the individual actors in the film or any other irrelevant aspect of the film without properly recognizing its significance. This film was released in 1941 at a time when world peace was being seriously threatened by some of the most evil forces then known to mankind. It was a means of conveying to as many as possible the evils of Nazism at a time when people in America were arguing, loudly by the way, that the country should remain neutral as far as the rest of the world was concerned. How people can, today, quibble about the acting abilities or weaknesses of the story line is beyond me. This was 1941 and films such as this were designed, first and foremost, to make the then-current world situation a reality for those people who didn't seem to know, or even care, about what was happening around them. In that respect, it succeeds magnificently. And how ironic that it should star John Garfield who was so hounded by the treacherous McCarthy era that he died at the unforgivable age of 39!!! Nancy Coleman, who later became the mother of twins, lived across the street from me for many years. One might, perhaps, want to think about just where our world would be today if not for the efforts of all those responsible for this unappreciated film from 1941.

This movie should have been right up my alley. I love John Garfield. And love WW2 stories. But the tone is absolutely dopey. The terrible music is wall to wall. And the lead actress is one dimensional. Instead of being a Hitchcock it plays out with the depth of a 50s sitcom. Even Garfield looks lost and embarrassed. The worst part is that beats are played out over and over again. It's flat, silly, repetitious. The real culprit driving the badness is the actress. Nancy Coleman is it? She has no nuances. Delivers everything the same way. Painful. No wonder she didn't make it. Anyway that's enough.