User reviews

If it's true that JOAN CRAWFORD called this one of her "worst" films, then she is just as bad as judging her own work as Bette Davis was. Bette thought so little of "It's Love I'm After" which everyone thinks is one of the best screwball comedies of the '30s, starring Bette, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland.

If THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS sounds like a lurid melodrama, it is. But it's got a lot of good things going for it. First of all, the characters are an interesting bunch--including the two rough and tough Jackson brothers (DAVID BRIAN and PHILIP CAREY), DENNIS MORGAN sincere in one of his better dramatic roles as an eye specialist who treats Crawford and eventually falls in love with her, and a plot that keeps you wondering how the whole affair is going to turn out because Brian's character is such a hot-headed guy with a gun.

Also, it never becomes sappy in the romance department nor does it have the soap opera flavor of many a Joan Crawford film. Instead, it's got an almost film noir quality about the sharp B&W photography, a good score, and other technical qualities that raise it above the norm for what looks like a low-budget Warner film. But the plot has enough interesting moments to keep viewers watching until the final shootout in a hospital while a surgery is being performed.

David Brian seems to be relishing his tough guy role (which seldom varied during his stay at Warner Bros.), and Joan Crawford gets a chance to play out all her anxieties and frustrations with her customary skill. Her career at Warners was just about to come to an end because she was dissatisfied with the scripts she'd been given after making such a strong showing during her first few years with the studio.

A good, steamy melodrama that manages to overcome the improbable story line by being directed in brisk, no nonsense style by Felix Feist, who knew how to keep the pace tight as the story builds toward a climax.

This Woman Is Dangerous marks Warner Brothers termination of the contracts of Joan Crawford and Dennis Morgan. It's a potboiler of a story at best made a lot better by the A list cast.

Joan's a woman of some class who's hooked up with gangster brothers David Brian and Philip Carey and Carey's wife Mari Aldon. After successfully pulling off a heist at a gambling casino, Joan consults a doctor about some vision problems she's having and discovers she's going blind. A really delicate operation is needed and Dr. Dennis Morgan is the guy to do it. So Joan drops out of the gang to go east to Indiana and the hospital Morgan is affiliated with.

While she's repairing her vision, Brian does something really stupid and makes the gang red hot. He kills a state trooper and then in a move I cannot understand ditches the trailer camper they were traveling in with the trooper's body. Might as well have signed a confession.

But Crawford's prints are also in the trailer though the FBI knows she was in the hospital when the murder occurred. She looks like a good bet to lead the FBI to Brian and the rest reasons FBI agent Richard Webb who was also playing Captain Midnight on TV at the same time and in the same manner. So Crawford is staked out like a bird dog.

This Woman Is Dangerous would never get a notice and would be several rankings lower if it weren't for Joan Crawford and the rest of the cast.

Not one of director Feist's best, but still decent. He seems to be most comfortable in a tight 60 to 70 minute format, but this one is considerably longer and tends to drag. He's never entirely in control of the mostly maudlin storyline, and never really clinches the romance between Joan Crawford's gangster moll and Dennis Morgan's benevolent eye surgeon. The movie has a hamstrung feeling, as if Feist wasn't allowed to turn loose and be as reckless as he'd like. There are stretches where it's just too stiff and well behaved.

There are some things to like about it however. David Brian is another one of Feist's single-mindedly brutal thugs to rival Lawrence Tierney in the director's earlier "The Devil Thumbs A Ride" and Charles McGraw in "The Threat" for pure undiluted nastiness. His obsessive, murderous, almost infant-like attachment to Crawford is rather disturbing. Along with brother Philip Carey (a brooding, troubling presence throughout) the Jackson brothers certainly make for a memorable pair of crooks.

Also liked the moments just after Crawford undergoes the risky operation to save her eyesight. Feist creates a rather lush feeling of disorientation here and at one point Crawford, whose eyes have been bandaged for some time, makes a perceptive comment to the effect that drifting in the dark for so long has its advantages, that one feels completely cut off from reality and all its concerns.

There's a fresh, exciting scene involving a liquor bottle ill-advisedly thrown through a speeding camper's window and the highway patrol cop it almost strikes (Feist seems to like images of roads and highways just as much as David Lynch) and Brian's fanatic last stand, symbolically taking place in a hospital operating room where Morgan is presumably performing surgery on someone to help them ... see better.

I recorded this 1952 Joan Crawford movie because 1) I like Joan Crawford's Warner Brothers era and 2) I liked the title. After seeing this film, I think that they overstated how dangerous Crawford's character was. She is not dangerous at all. It's as if "Mildred Pierce" decided to join a crime syndicate to help recoup lost profits after the failure of her restaurant chain. Crawford plays the same type of strong woman facing hard times that she often plays.

In this film, Crawford plays Beth Austin, the head of the gang of criminals who pull off heists in high class locales. Crawford's character was specifically recruited for her class as she could get the gang into nicer locations and provide a believable front. The gang pulls off a casino heist by impersonating police officers and make off with $90,000. Crawford is also dating one of the gangsters, a man named Matt who will kill without giving it a second thought. The conflict in this film is that Crawford is losing her eyesight and must undergo surgery to try and reverse her declining eyesight before she is blind entirely. Her doctor refers her to Dr. Ben Halleck, portrayed by Dennis Morgan. Morgan is reluctant to perform the surgery, as it is experimental, but Crawford pressures him to do so, figuring that she doesn't have much to lose.

At this point in the film, the movie kind of switches gears from a noir to more of a melodrama. As Crawford works to recover from the operation, she and Morgan begin to fall in love. Crawford accompanies Morgan on a few "house calls" where she sees the empathy and kindness that he displays toward his patients and their families. She also has dinner at Morgan's home one night where she meets his adorable daughter and seems to instantly bond with her.

The tension throughout this segment of the film is whether or not Morgan will find out about Crawford's past. The FBI is on her trail as is the private detective that her boyfriend hires to keep tabs on Crawford to see if there is more going on between her and Morgan, aside from her convalescence.

This film was okay, Crawford was fine in her part and Morgan turned in the same type of dependable performance that he usually does. However, this film couldn't decide whether or not it wanted to be a noir or a melodrama, and it wasn't captivating enough to be a melodramatic noir like Mildred Pierce. While I didn't hate it, I don't think I'll need to watch this film over and over. Crawford called this her worst film. I think she has worse films out there, Ice Follies of 1939 comes to mind, but this definitely isn't among her best.

Like others on this board, I'm surprised that Joan Crawford would call "This Woman is Dangerous" her worst film. This from the woman who made Straitjacket, Berserk, and Trog?

"This Woman is Dangerous" was Crawford's last film at Warners, and perhaps she felt like she was headed downhill at Warners the way she had headed downhill at MGM. By then she was used to seeing the signs.

But for the viewer, on the surface, at least, the movie is serviceable. Crawford stars as Beth Austin, a gangsteress with vision problems and a jealous boyfriend, Matt Jackson (David Brian).

She goes to Indiana to have a special operation by a known surgeon, Dr. Halleck (Dennis Morgan), and the two develop feelings for one another. Knowing the good doctor's fate at the hands of her beau if she gives in, Beth resists his advances.

The film is a strange mix of romance and film noir, but the tension is always there. Phil Carey plays Brian's brother, and the two have a volatile relationship; Matt is always sure Beth has run off with another guy; the police are looking for Beth.

Pretty good, though it drags a bit.

This movie is really a star vehicle for Joan Crawford. Here she plays a "gang leader". Her henchmen are typically stupid and violent. Oddly she falls in love with a very decent doctor and the way this plays out is well done.

One especially impressive scene has her visit a woman's prison (in the company of her Doctor friend). Really nice acting job as she portrays her fear of the place (she has been in prison before one guesses) while trying to appear unconcerned. I think this movie is quite a bit better than most people give it credit for.

The woman in the title is not particularly dangerous, but she seems to be crashingly masochistic. Joan Crawford, at this point in her acting career, has been playing women with an elegant sense style who fall for the wrong men, and this time it's super-petulant David Brian, who has probably been pouting since his older sister snapped his slingshot. Early in the film, Our Joan discovers her sight is in jeopardy, and purely by accident begins to bond with her doctor, mild-mannered but sensitive Dennis Morgan, set free from Warner's musicals for a year or so; Brian soon discovers the clandestine romance, and is ready to kill someone! He loves to wave his gun around!

Although not as tightly written as this semi-noir melodrama could be, there are plenty of exciting set pieces that delight the eye and excite the intellect--all the stuff with the trailer pursued by the motorcycle copy is, while totally illogical, fascinating and beautifully filmed, and therein for me lies a major interest in this film--the superb, careful use of the camera with which Warner films could be so effective--brilliant set interiors lit perfectly, whether in the home of a sick child's poor parents, or in an operating room's audience gallery, providing a dazzling set piece finale where everybody get's involved and there's enough shattered glass to build an igloo! Cinematographer Ted McCord is the man behind the camera; he's already lensed Crawford in numerous other films, and is responsible for a rich heritage of classics from The Treasure of The Sierra Madre to The Sound of Music--a dedicated artists, McCord's work could make a meatball look like filet mignon.

A sincere dedication from dozens of Warner contract players contribute to a wide variety of locales--from hospital waiting rooms to trailer parks, prison laundry rooms to doctor's offices, and the film, I think, accurately reflects the ability of a major studio to churn out a decent film every few weeks worthy of watching. This Woman Is Dangerous is no Mildred Pierce or Humoresque, but Joan is still in top form, manages to command attention, and there are few that can suffer as bravely. Well...Kay Francis, maybe..but that's another story.....

Despite admiring Joan Crawford hugely and really liking to loving many of her performances, quite a big part of me was not expecting an awful lot from 'This Woman is Dangerous'. The premise sounded quite interesting and Crawford is worth seeing at least in most of her films, but the not so good critical reception and that Crawford herself had a low opinion of it (calling it her worst film at one point) dampened expectations by quite a lot.

Seeing 'This Woman is Dangerous' though fairly recently for the first time as part of my Crawford completest quest, it was a little better than expected. It is not a terrible film and really do disagree with Crawford when she said that it was her worst film, it is nowhere near close to being one of the worst let alone the very worst. She certainly did much better (i.e. 'Mildred Pierce'), but she did so much worse than 'This Woman is Dangerous' before and since (i.e. 'Berserk').

'This Woman is Dangerous' does have strengths. It looks good visually, the shadowy lighting and equally atmospheric and neither overblown or static photography are very easy on the eyes. The music has an appropriately moody vibe when necessary. Some of the direction is assured.

Crawford brings edge and vulnerability to her role and doesn't over-egg it. Am one of those people that though that David Brian did very well here, suitably loathsome and not being reserved in that (a tough guy role played with relish). Phillip Carey manages to be even creepier and an every bit as tough character.

Less good is Dennis Morgan, his character is rather underwritten and Morgan underplays the role too much so he comes over as dull. The story was problematic to me, it definitely had moments and it did pick up at the end with a tense ending. But it really would have benefitted from a shorter length, which would have meant that the pace most likely would have been tighter and the story, which to me was too thin and over-stretched, more succinct. It also felt contrived and strains credibility to breaking point.

From a scripting point of view, the film fared pretty oddly here. It wasn't soapy in a way, but it did lack tautness and could be overripe. Tonally it is something of an odd muddle, with a feeling of not being sure what type of film it wanted to be. Ending up with having more than one tone and not doing enough with any of them.

All in all, watchable and a long way from Crawford's worst but this could have been better. 5/10

The film suffered from a bit of a slow pace, however the strong performance from Joan Crawford made this watchable and enjoyable.

Strictly B stuff which Crawford considered her worst movie, conveniently forgetting the atrocious "Ice Follies of 1939". Her part is something she could play in her sleep, a tough dame who finds herself in a tight spot.

The thing is that even though Joan is elegantly gowned her surroundings are unquestionably cheap-jack something she sensed did not bode well for her future at Warners, she negotiated her exit and this was her last film for them. It's not just that the sets are low rent, the script is far below the high standard she was being offered just a year before.

That's not to say it's not entertaining in a sensationalistic way but certainly nowhere near her best films.

OK, so it's partly my own fault. But with a title like This Woman Is Dangerous and Joan Crawford in the lead, who wouldn't expect a noir movie? It starts off that way, but after 10 minutes it turns into a syrupy soap opera. So i'm sure there are plenty of fans of La Crawford's brand of melodrama out there who will eat this up and love it. And they will have no problem in accepting the crucial fact that all men who stare into Saint Joan's angelic eyes fall madly in love with her and will do anything, yes even commit murder to win her love. Me for one, i didn't buy it. I'm also not a fan of movies that feature self-sacrificing young and attractive doctors, especially if they have unbearably cute daughters with pigtails. Did i mention he was divorced? And that the pixyish daughter is immediately won over by Ms. Crawford? Boy, what a bit of luck for Our Lady On the Lamb! Sure is a swell setup to step into. If there only wasn't her no-good killer boyfriend, who spends the entire movie in a jealous murderous rage. But of course Joan is too honest and steadfast to sell him out for a cushy life with Dr. Wonderful. Or is she? Torn between two lovers, whatever will she do? If you're really interested in the answer, i can recommend this movie. If like me you couldn't possibly care less, avoid.

This was Joan Crawford's final film under her Warner Brothers contract. She hated the film, but accepted it anyway to complete her agreement with the studio. It is not as bad as everyone thinks it is, but it is odd to see Joan as a lady gangster, going blind, and finding true love with the surgeon (Dennis Morgan) who restores her sight.

Joan Crawford's only reason for making "This Woman Is Dangerous," (a script that she thought was terrible) was that it would complete her contract to Warner Brothers Studios and she would then be free to go over to RKO and begin production on "Sudden Fear," (which would earn her an Academy Award nomination).

This film begins with Crawford a gangster's girlfriend...and this gangster (David Brian) is insanely jealous of her. When it turns out she's going blind, the nutty boyfriend thinks that she is just plotting to run away from him. When the surgery occurs and she is cured, he assumes that she and the doctor are having an affair! In fact, she and the doctor are interested but Crawford puts him off because she loves him and knows that Brian will ultimately kill him if she reciprocates. It's like a soap opera and film noir combined.

I think that either Joan Crawford's statement on IMDb that this was "her worst film" must either be taken out of context or Ms. Crawford had recently suffered a blow to the head, as THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS is a very good film. Additionally, late in her career she made some embarrassingly bad films (such as TROG and BERSERK). So how could this be the worst?! Perhaps Crawford was talking about being a bad time in her life or it was tough because after this film her contract with Warner Brothers was expired--but this surely is far from a bad film.

Now I am not saying that this is a great or perfect film--it has a couple knocks against it. First, Dennis Morgan is just too young for her. I am not trying to be mean, but Crawford had been around Hollywood for almost 30 years--Morgan was simply too young and handsome to believe as a doctor who falls for this patient. Second, the plot about a woman going blind and needing this surgery does seem a tad contrived--though I found it pretty easy to accept it for what it was.

The film excels in several ways. First, it was nice to see Crawford in a more vulnerable role. Too often, she played manish roles that almost seemed like caricatures (such as in JOHNNY GUITAR). Second, the ending is quite suspenseful and I loved the character of Crawford's antisocial/paranoid boyfriend. Thing about it--the doctor just restored Joan's sight and yet the crazed boyfriend wants to kill the doctor because he KNOWS that every man wants his girl! Good writing, very good acting--this film is one of Crawford's best from the 1950s.

Joan Crawford plays a the leader of a gang who finds herself having to undergo surgery in order to save her eyesight, only to fall in love with her doctor, Dennis Morgan. However, things get messy when her former boyfriend and fellow gang member gets wind of the budding romance. Crawford plays her usual tough self and that's enough to carry this overly tired story of a criminal seeking to leave their life of crime and go straight. Reportedly Jack L. Warner offered Crawford this tired story expecting her to turn it down so he could put the costly star on suspension, but to his surprise she took the part. Following this film, Crawford negotiated her release from her Warner Bros. contract. Crawford once said this was the only film she regretted ever making (and she even said that after filming "Trog," the film about an unfrozen caveman who goes berserk), but "This Woman is Dangerous" is still an entertaining film and watchable mostly thanks to a strong performance by the always fascinating Crawford in the lead.

Although Joan Crawford is undoubtedly the star of this awful Warners' programmer, and the bland Dennis Morgan is her love interest, David Brian is the best thing about this film. Brian had already appeared with Crawford in Flamingo Road and The Damned Don't Cry, both of which are infinitely superior to this film, and he knew how to hold his own against her. He, at least, brings a little fire to the screen (while Miss Crawford simpers as she suffers and Morgan tries to smile handsomely).

Crawford plays Beth Austin, a high-class gangster in league with the volatile Jackson brothers (Brian and Philip Carey) who learns she has one of those unspecified disease integral to all mediocre movies. Morgan is the clean-cut doctor who is the only man who can save her. Of course they fall for each other and events follow a horribly predictable (and unbearably slow) path towards an inevitable conclusion.

There isn't much of any worth about this film. It's professionally constructed but lacks any kind of passion, excitement or interest.

Joan Crawford plays the leader of a criminal gang who finds out she's going blind. Kindly doctor Dennis Morgan performs the operation that saves her sight and the two fall in love. Joan's insanely jealous boyfriend David Brian is none too pleased. Despite the title, Joan's character is pretty tame. Crawford and Morgan go through the motions here. Both were on their way out at WB. They have no chemistry together at all.

David Brian is an actor I've never been too impressed with. He has a weak screen presence and seems more suited to supporting parts. Due to his friendship with Joan he was given big parts in three movies of hers. Most positive reviews of this film I've read seem to praise his performance. Guess we see things differently as I thought he was just hamming his way through a poor man's impersonation of a WB gangster. This is a forgettable potboiler that's only of note as the last film Joan Crawford did on her Warner Bros. contract. The whole thing feels like a leftover B picture from the '40s. Joan later said this was her worst film. I'm guessing she blacked out the '60s.

The 1950's were not Kind to Film-Noir or Joan Crawford. Here is a Prime Example of Both being Betrayed by a Changing Culture and in Joan's Case, just Old Father Time. Even at this Late Date Crawford's Films Insisted on Casting the Aging Actress as a Man Eater and it seemed Anyone on Screen Fell Under Her Spell. There were Lines of Dialog in Scene after Scene Exclaiming Her Beauty. With Each Passing Year from about 1945 the Credulity Strained.

For Film-Noir there is Now Included for Your Domestication, Children, and Marriages, Professional People like Doctors and such all making its way into the Darkness of Noir with the Light of Optimism and Suburbia.

This is a Not-Bad Movie that has a Few Outstanding Scenes but is Smothered by some Heavy Romanticism and Doctorly Do-Gooding. But the Private Eye is Sleazy and the Gang Members are Dumb Brutes, and oh yea this is the Fifties so the F.B.I. is Around for some Flag Waving and Wiretapping. There is Enough here to keep this Above Doldrums and the Good Parts, like the Climactic Shootout in an Operating Room, make this Worth a Watch.

Joan Crawford left Warner Bros. with a whimper after starring in this mediocre vehicle about a jaded gangster's girl (quickly losing her sight!) who flirts with going straight after falling for her ever-patient eye surgeon. It might not be such a bad idea: the Feds are hot on her trail, as is a private detective who'd like a little inside action. Scattered screenplay, adapted from Bernard Girard's short story, tailored as a showcase for its leading lady, who gets to show both her tough side as well as her withering, womanly glow. Tolerable up to a point, the picture makes too many sentimental side-trips, and Crawford's character ends up not making a whole lot of sense (she also spends a great deal of time waiting in the car). Production values up to par, but this hoary material is second-rate. ** from ****

Surprisingly low-key crime drama. It's Crawford without her usual emoting even with the many script opportunities. In fact, she almost walks through the part in what appears unengaged fashion. Maybe that's because of her contract dispute with Warners (IMDB), which she soon left. Anyway, she plays a gang moll specializing in bank heists, along with her wacko paramour Brian. Trouble is she's losing her eyesight and must go to handsome surgeon Morgan for correction, soon becoming dependent on him. So, the question is will she stay with her criminal past and Brian or will she open up to Morgan's respectable ways and his mounting interest in her.

One trouble with star vehicles is they're often padded for the star's sake. Here, that appears the case, especially with the middle part and long after we've understood the conflicts. Anyway, director Feist shows more ingenuity with shadowy set-ups than he does with building suspense. Thus the promising final part lacks the tension implicit in the script. And catch that terrible piece of staging when the highway cop is blithely murdered. At least the travel trailer hideout amounts to an imaginative asset. At the same time, Brian overplays his tough guy role as though he's trying to compensate for his two stony co-stars. In plot terms, it also makes you wonder why Crawford has such loyal ties to him. At least one soft moment between the two is badly needed. At the same time, the usually personable Morgan seems especially bland, maybe because he too was wrapping up with Warners (IMDB). Thus, contract disputes could well be a factor in this disappointing production.

In sum, the flick amounts to one in which no one seems particularly interested in the results. One thing for sure- it's a long, long way from the usual tight Warner's crime drama or even a trademark Crawford weepie.