Dangerous Crossing

Excellent Suspense Film
"Dangerous Crossing" [1953/Fox/b&w] was a low-budget film, but a first-class spellbinder. Scenario in brief: a new bride boards an ocean liner with her husband. The ship sails. He disappears. Why? How? Did he even exist? The bride's hysteria builds...until the mystery is solved.

This alarming, but riveting story was conceived by John Dickson Carr, a veteran contributor to CBS Radio's "Suspense." Director Joseph M. Newman's delayed-gratification, "march to the guillotine" pacing; the successful creation of an absolutely suffocating atmosphere of dread; the heart-rending performance of beautiful Jeanne Crain in one of her most challenging roles as the young bride; the sympathetic contributions of Michael Rennie as the ship's doctor: all distinguish "Dangerous Crossing" as a suspenseful film noir of the first order. Recommended without reservation.

Fine Fare from Fox Film Noir!
This highly suspenseful film featuring the exquisitely beautiful Jeanne Crain finally makes it to DVD. Also starring Michael Rennie, Carl Betz (Donna Reed show) and a host of recognizable character actors provide us with a more than convincing edge of your seat thriller. This short (75 minutes long) film is packed with Hitchcockian touches making for a fine addition to any one's Mystery/Suspense collection!

UPDATE 03.18.08

This release is beautifully restored with excellent gray-scale resolution.
Bonus features abound including:
*Audio Commentary by Film Historian Aubrey Soloman
*Peril at Sea: Charting A Dangerous Crossing (Featurette)
*Interactive Passbook - Still Galleries
*Original Theatrical Trailer

A Solid Entry in the Fox Film Noir Series
As I write this review, there have been two reviews of this film posted here, each of which gave it five stars. I enjoyed the movie, but I have to say that five stars is a little over-exuberant for this particular movie. I would reserve that sort of rating for a Casablanca, The Lady Vanishes, Duck Soup, and quite a few others, but I don't think those who made this movie intended it to be an undying work of cinema art, and so I'm giving it three stars, recognizing it as a solid, workmanlike product churned out by the studio system in (as the special features on the DVD point out several times), just nineteen days of shooting.

Let me be a little more specific. I'm going to limit what I say to a certain extent, because this is a film based on a story by John Dickson Carr, the master of "locked room" mysteries, and a large part of the film's dramatic energy stems from the fact that the story starts out with one of those seemingly impossible situations -- the young,...

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