Outside the Law

"Johnny" (Ray Danton) is an ex-soldier drafted in by the US authorities in Germany to help investigate the death of one of his old army pals. Not long out of prison, he is keen to clear his name and is soon on the trail of a clever gang who are counterfeiting cash and taking advantage of the post-WWII confusion to, quite literally, make a mint. His search is further complicated by the involvement of both his father - the policeman who gives him the gig in the first place and with whom he has a strained relationship; and with the widow of the murdered man "Maria" (Leigh Snowden) who is as keen to get to the bottom of this perlous mystery and, of course, a romance starts to blossom. There's no getting away from it. Handsome as he is, Danton is as wooden as a plank. He has precisely no charisma and that really impacts on this film that, from a criminal perspective, is actually a little bit better than a routine caper. There's far too much by way of chatter and really very little action until the last ten minutes when the threads start to pull together. A bit more creative casting could have made this more memorable, but as it is - well it's worth a watch but you'll never remember it afterwards.

The noirish theme of the returning G. I. is perpetuated in this film made as late as 1956, more than a decade after most had returned from the War. In this case, Ray Danton plays an Army Staff Sergeant who has been called back from Europe to help the U. S. Treasury crack a counterfeiting case which has been plaguing them for 15 years. Danton had been permitted to join the Army as a condition of his parole, having been imprisoned for a minor offence when younger. He has done well in the army, been promoted, won a medal, was wounded, the whole lot. He is now offered the chance to have his "slate wiped clean" for his earlier crime by cooperating in solving the case. The head of the enquiry team in Washington is his own father! They are severely estranged and tensions run high between them. The reason why Danton is considered important is that he knew a member of the counterfeiting gang who was recently murdered. He is asked to call on that man's widow (played by Leigh Snowden) and see if he can glean any information on the gang. It turns out that Snowden had only known her husband for three months before he left for Europe and is ignorant of his criminal activities. But she is jealously watched by another member of the gang. Things get violent very fast. Will our hero survive? Will he fall in love with the pretty widow? Can the villains be traced? And can the case be solved? The film is competently done and all is eventually revealed.

Rather good noir with an interesting story of some counterfeiting corruption and a splendid gun fight among the coaches in the bus garage. Leigh Snowden is great in this but only made about ten films although she did make the fantastic, Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and Grant Williams was also good although he made a few more and his most famous one as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Of course this gives us a clue as the director made this and the other film by Jack Arnold and if this isn't a wonderful one it is certainly well shot and no messing around and no boring moments. He was 56 when he made this one and before he had Tarantula (1955) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) - not bad even if there aren't really any beasts in this one.

Jack Arnold directed this subpar Universal-International movie, a Ray Danton vehicle of one-dimensional characters and flat, boring story elements.

The culprit is screenwriter Danny Arnold (no relation). Right through to the corny, blah ending, his work is quite poor, hardly indicative of hi great success later in TV producing and creating hits "That Girl" and "Barney Miller".

Danton plays an ex-con and WW II vet chosen by his estranged father to become an undercover government agent to help break up an international counterfeiting ring. He glides effortlessly through the role, while Arnold's iconic hero (of "Incredible Shrinking Man") Grant Williams sleepwalks through a cast-against-type assignment as chief heavy. The uneasy re0lationship between Danton and his dad Onslow Stevens is central to the story but comes across as completely artificial. Leigh Snowden is the pretty but overly "nice" heroine, as Danny's script fails to give her character an edge or any possibility of being a femme fatale.

It adds up to being a forgettable, boring programmer.

Ray Danton stars with Leigh Snowden in Outside the Law from 1956.

Danton is Johnny Salvo, ex-army and currently on parole. He has a chance to wipe his record clean if he can help catch the members of a counterfeit ring.

He has an "in" - someone he knew in the Army whom the treasury department believe played a part in the ring was recently murdered. The problem is that the head of the investment is Johnny's father (Onslow Stevens), and they are estranged. He agrees to be part of the investigation, but reluctantly.

Johnny meets his friend's widow Maria (Snowden) and falls for her. He has competition in the sinister Don Kastner ( Grant Williams). Are they involved with the counterfeit ring?

The most interesting thing to me was Snowden, who at some angles bore a strong resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. In fact, she was signed as a Monroe type by Universal.

She didn't have MM's personality but few women were signed to a film contract by walking on stage in front of soldiers during a Jack Benny show. She retired early and sadly died young.

Exciting scenes at the end, and fascinating as the authorities search for counterfeit money in a linens shipment.