Meurtre à bord

Before I even saw the first scene of this very good mystery I was pretty sure that I would like it because it was adapted from a story by John Dickson Carr. In my opinion, he was the dean of mystery writers, specializing in the genre that gives us the stylish murder in the sealed room and similar types of "impossible" crimes.

This time, Ms. Crane is a woman who has been married for only a few hours. Her and her new husband are taking an ocean voyage for their honeymoon. But, the husband goes to see the purser, telling his wife that he will meet her in the ships' dining room. Since this is a Carr story the husband, naturally, disappears and most of the rest of the movie finds Ms. Crane trying to convince the ships' crew that her husband did indeed board the ship with her and has vanished. Of course, everyone claims to have not seen her husband board with her and she is thought of as a mental case. But, as the movie unfolds, the ships' doctor, played by Michael Rennie, begins to think that there may be truth to her story. From the start, it's obvious that at least one crew member is part of a nefarious plot and that Ms. Crane is in grave danger. But, which crew member, or members, are part of the plot? The movie is well paced and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

All in all, I found it to be most enjoyable.

Ruth (Jeanne Crain) and John (Carl Betz) board a ship for their honeymoon. However, within 15 minutes of sailing, John has disappeared. Not only has he disappeared but there has never been any trace of him and there are no witnesses that have seen the couple together. The room that they originally booked into is now empty and only Ruth's suitcases seem to be located on board - in a different room! So begins the mystery. The film follows Ruth's attempts to locate her husband while we are introduced to a suspicious cast of characters. No-one believes her story and even the confidante that she finds in Dr Paul Manning (Michael Rennie) has his doubts. She receives a phone call in her cabin from John saying that they are both in danger.......

The film gets you involved from the beginning and you know that something sinister is occurring. The various characters are introduced to us - eg, stewardess Anna (Mary Anderson), single traveller Kay (Marjorie Hoshelle), steward Jim (Casey Adams) and a foreign passenger with a walking stick (Karl Ludwig Lindt) - and we are never quite sure what is in the back of their minds. Even Dr manning is not above suspicion. The fog horn that continually sounds adds to the tension in the night scenes and it is a well acted film by all.

This movie is a nice, tense little b/w thriller, set aboard a transatlantic passenger liner headed to England. Jeanne Crain plays a new bride; her husband immediately goes missing after boarding the ship in New York, leaving her in a state of panic as she can not convince the ship's crew or passengers that he even exists. Suspicions rise as a hint of her mental unstability comes to light, and bits of her past are made known. Questionable characters lurk around every dark corner of the ship during the fog-enshrouded crossing, offering an atmosphere of doubt and danger. Jeanne Crain portrays the sheltered, distressed young woman with an ideal sensitivity, and Britsh actor Michael Rennie is especially effective as the ship's doctor who treats her with thoughtful compassion. I enjoyed the shipbound suspense of this movie, particularly the scenes where the young lady tries to conduct her own investigation, searching the darkened decks in spite of her overwhelming fear and despair. The cast is good, the direction tight, and the mystery unravels without any dead spots to cool your interest. As a side note, did any actor ever look better in uniform than tall Michael Rennie?

"Dangerous Crossing" is based on a story (actually a radio play) by John Dickson Carr, the master of the locked room mystery. But there's no locked room and the mystery is more in the vein of Cornell Woolrich, arguably the "father" of film noir. As in some of Woolrich's best tales, the story begins with a sudden twist of fate. Moments after Jeanne Crain as a new bride boards a luxury liner on her honeymoon, the groom vanishes. No one has seen him. Their stateroom is listed as unoccupied. Even Michael Rennie as the sympathetic ship's doctor (who's clearly smitten by her) suspects that her missing husband is a figment of her imagination. Still, there are some very odd people skulking the boat's fog-shrouded decks -- and when the answer comes, it's ingenious. Thankfully, the movie was made in the early 1950s so there was no problem bringing it in at a swift 75 minutes. Today, it would be padded out to the requisite two hours and the suspense would escape like air from a punctured tire. Credit Joseph Newman with smart direction (including an opening dockside scene worthy of Michael Curtiz,) making maximum use of the sets Fox built to serve as the Titanic. In short, a thoroughly entertaining grade B thriller.

Wow! What a great little noir. Apparently made utilising sets from 'Titanic' and 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', films made the same year, this is a great example of fast (three weeks shooting) low budget film making. Not a wasted frame, this spooky, thrilling mystery, looks good all the time and many shots are exceptional. Lots of shadowy, foggy or against the light close-ups and a sensational sequence in the ballroom. All menace and subterfuge as we begin to feel that Jeanne Crain's character is surely going to break down despite the restrained and reassuring Michael Rennie, who doesn't even get a kiss. The film races along and has your attention all the time. Set on an ocean liner we do not get the dark streets and lamplight shadows but Newman certainly makes the most of what he's got; the drone of the foghorn, the swirling fog itself and a slew of fellow travellers Crain is not too sure about. And nor are we! Splendid.