An obvious attempt to get something more than sheer melodrama onto the screen—something pictorially reflective of the emotional confusion of a man—is apparent in John Houseman's hard-grained production, "On Dangerous Ground," which put itself in that position at the Criterion yesterday.

Essentially the problem under consideration here is that of a steel-springed detective who has turned sadist out of bitterness and hate—a lapse that seems an occupational failing, to judge by recent films. So violent, indeed, are his outbursts in the course of his metropolitan work that his captain assigns him to be helpful on a murder case up in the hills. And while he is on this assignment he discovers how ugly hate can be by watching the hot and brutal passion of a farmer whose child has been killed. He also discovers generosity in the blind sister of the murderer of the child.

With this flimsy material—and that is the fault of the film—the best has been made by Mr. Houseman and his director, Nicholas Ray. They have shot the metropolitan phases of the story in a city's shabby streets, catching in sleaziness and violence some sense of the rancor of the cop, in which role Robert Ryan does a straight, coldeyed, stout-muscled job. And in the open-country phases they have got the crispness and coldness of real outdoors, reflecting the firmness and tranquility that fresh air and horizons can give.

But, as we say, the story is a shallow, uneven affair, as written by A. I. Bezzerides from Gerald Butler's "Mad With Much Heart." The cause of the cop's sadism is only superficially explained, and certainly his happy redemption is easily and romantically achieved. And while a most galling performance of the farmer is given by Ward Bond, Ida Lupino is mawkishly stagey as the blind girl who melts the cop's heart. For all the sincere and shrewd direction and the striking outdoor photography, this R. K. O. melodrama fails to traverse its chosen ground.

ON DANGEROUS GROUND, screen play by A. I. Bezzerides, from the novel, "Mad With Much Heart," by Gerald Butler; directed by Nicholas Ray; produced by John Houseman for R. K. O. At the Criterion.
Mary Malden . . . . . Ida Lupino
Jim Wilson . . . . . Robert Ryan
Walter Brent . . . . . Ward Bond
Bill Daly . . . . . Charles Kemper
Pete Santos . . . . . Anthony Ross
Captain Brawley . . . . . Ed Begley
Carrey . . . . . Ian Wolfe
Danny Malden . . . . . Sumner Williams
Lucky . . . . . Gus Schilling
Willows . . . . . Frank Ferguson
Myrna . . . . . Cleo Moore
Mrs. Brent . . . . . Olive Carey
Bernie . . . . . Richard Irving
Julie . . . . . Pat Prest