Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

mark.waltz That's what the passengers of this cruise ship must constantly have said in watching the chicly dressed Jeanne Crain every time she had a panic attack while searching for her missing new husband who vanished right before the ship sailed. Ship psychiatrist Michael Rennie becomes her confidante while other ships personnel and an overly anxious female passenger pacify her. The husband does eventually contact her, but bit by bit, she is getting nuttier and nuttier. Crain, along with Gene Tierney and Linda Darnell, was one of the top dramatic stars at 20th Century Fox in the late 1940's and early 50's, does all she can with this convoluted thriller (one of the few film noir not set in a big city, yet alone on dry land), but the film is even more dramatic than "Sorry Wrong Number", the epitome of the lady in peril sub-division of film noir, which this emulates. It is apparent that when what is going on is revealed, it will be a real loo-loo, and by that time, many viewers will have stopped caring.

Turfseer Click on the DVD special features and you'll learn a few interesting things about 'Dangerous Crossing'. First off, it only took 19 days to film; and it cost about $500,000 which was less than half of what Twentieth Century Fox was paying for their 'A' blockbusters such as 'Titanic', which also was released around the same time in 1953. Speaking of 'Titanic', a good number of the sets from that film were used in 'Crossing' along with a pool set from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', another 'A' feature, also released in 1953. By using the sets from those other more expensive films, this was a big reason why the producers of 'Dangerous Crossing' were able to have the film made on the cheap as well as shoot it on such a short schedule.'Dangerous Crossing' is a taut, little mystery with an ocean cruise as its setting. Jeanne Crain plays Ruth Stanton Bowman who just got married a day before and is off on her honeymoon with John Bowman (played by Carl Betz, known for his stint on TV's 'Donna Reed Show' a few years later). Once the couple boards the ship and settles into their cabin, the story takes a real spooky twist, reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. John disappears and the crew has no record of him being on the passenger manifest. Ruth starts to panic and the ship's captain orders the ship's physician, Paul Manning (played by the erudite Michael Rennie), to basically keep tabs on her. It appears that Ruth is off her rocker but the captain goes by the book and orders a search of the ship with negative results.The tension in the plot keeps rising as Ruth receives a mysterious call from John who warns her that both of them are in great danger and he'll have to contact her later. The call makes Ruth even more frantic as she basically begins running around the ship conducting her own investigation. At a certain point, Ruth realizes that if she continues to act hysterically and fails to contain her anger, the doctor will be forced by the captain to confine her to her quarters. So she begins pretending that her story about coming on board with her husband, is simply a figment of her imagination (an idea suggested to her by Dr. Manning).Ruth's paranoia is exacerbated when she encounters various fellow passengers and crew members all who seem quite menacing in her eyes. One passenger in particular sends her into a tailspin and that's this older German gentleman who walks with a limp and carries a cane. Of course he's just there (like most of the other crew and passengers) to throw the audience off the scent.After Dr. Manning shows Ruth a telegram from the Bureau of Investigation on the mainland that her personal physician and housekeeper know nothing about her getting married, Ruth confesses that she kept the marriage a secret. It seems she had a reason to fear someone might be after her and her new husband: right before her father died, he left her the family business—cutting out the father's half-brother who threatened the father in the event that he planned to disinherit him.Ruth experiences her 'dark moment the soul' when she encounters John on the deck and he runs away from her. In an excellent scene, she runs into the dining room and in a fit of paranoia, faints after she believes the crew members are all coming after her. The ship's captain immediately confines her to her quarters and her fears of being branded a lunatic have come true. Soon we learn that she hasn't been crazy after all. In the climactic scene, one of the ship's officers (who has been feigning illness and has been on sick leave) turns out to have impersonated Ruth's husband. Since Ruth has been confined to quarters and the ship will dock the next day, 'Bowman' attempts to strangle Ruth and throw her overboard, to make it look like she committed suicide. Manning intercepts Ruth's would-be killer and he ends up getting caught in a rope and falls overboard.Up until the ending, 'Dangerous Crossing' is a highly entertaining mystery which keeps the audience continually guessing as to the outcome. The outcome however has one main problem. If 'Bowman' had been successful, he couldn't have claimed Ruth's inheritance since it would have shed light on his whole plot to kill her. It appears that 'Bowman' was really working with Ruth's father's half-brother who probably had paid 'Bowman' to do Ruth in. So it would have been much better if 'Bowman' mentioned this to Ruth as he's about to strangle her—he could have said something to the effect, 'Remember that uncle of yours—well, he and I had a little deal. Now, I hope you finally get it." Most of the performances in 'Dangerous Crossing' are quite good but I did feel Jeanne Crain could have kept some of those histrionics under wrap. I'm referring especially to all those fainting spells every time she ends up receiving some kind of bad news. Also I found Dr. Manning to be remarkably patient (as well as Captain Peters) in dealing with the oftentimes hysterical Ruth. I know the staff of a cruise ship must be patient and courteous to the passengers, but would crew members today be as patient with someone like Ruth, who had a continual problem in controlling her anger? 'Dangerous Crossing' is a surprisingly well-made 'B' film noir. Particularly impressive is the cinematography in which a multitude of close-ups are utilized to a most efficacious effect.

Alex da Silva 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.

robert-temple-1 James W. Newman has directed a superb mystery thriller based upon John Dickson Carr's intriguing tale of a newlywed husband who goes missing on board an ocean liner in the middle of his honeymoon. Carr met his own wife Clarice on an ocean liner, so the evocative nature of the setting probably contributed to his thinking up this story. Jeanne Crain (best known for 'Pinky', 1949, four years earlier) is the perfect choice for the befuddled and rather dim young wife who finds herself in an insoluble dilemma, unexpectedly alone on a huge ship, without a passport, in the wrong cabin without a ticket, and alienating people with her fits of hysteria. She is a kind of B team version of Gene Tierney, though younger and softer and not a natural villainess. Michael Rennie is comforting as the ship's doctor, the only person on board who believes her story. Willis Bouchey is, as usual, solid as the ship's captain. We'd trust our ship to him anytime. This film was remade for TV in 1992 as 'Treacherous Crossing', apparently to derision and catcalls. What point is there in making retreads of classics? And yet they always try. This version could not be improved. It's got the period atmosphere of the early 1950s, not least Jeanne Crain's amazing parade of costumes and gowns. (Costumes by 'Renie', the titles said. Who was he or she? No relation to Michael Rennie, I'm sure.) This is 'the real thing', and a really good mystery yarn.