Dangerously They Live

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.

Nancy Coleman plays an British agent based in Washington D.C during the Second World War who has some vital information about Allied convoys which

German agents are keen to get their hot and sticky little hands on it and none too scrupulous about how they do it .They capture her but she escapes from their clutches only to be involved in an auto accident which leaves her concussed and with memory loss, Enter John Garfield as the intern in charge of her case .He facilitates her recovery but -suspecting many of the people who claim to know her are in fact Nazi agents -she continues to feign amnesia .She is taken into a private sanatorium by an eminent psychologist ( Raymond Massey ) who is a Nazi agent and which turns out to be a prison in all but name .All the servants and other help are "de facto" wardens and the last part of the movie deals with the attempt of Coleman and Garfield to escape and prevent the bad guys extracting the vital information from them Garfield was unenthusiastic about doing this movie -and agreed to do so only because he could not afford another suspension by the studio .It shows in a lacklustre performance and Raymond Massey has no problem stealing the acting honours in what is a proficient but minor Warner Brothers melodrama -watchable but not exceptional

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

Alfred Hitchcok is not my favorite director by any means but imagine what he could have done with this! The plot holds much potential for suspense. John Garfield is as almost always excellent and Raymond Massey is scarily cast against type. Nancy Coleman is not a very impressive leading lady but the supporting cast is large and very capable.

Yes it starts to sag fairly early. There are too many coincidences. And an important subject is trivialized by its being made into little more, in the end, than a love story.

It's fun to watch for Garfield, Massey, and the character performers. But it's not awfully good.

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.