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Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

After a very clumsy start things do gradually become suspenseful and intriguing. Although we do have the miscasting of John Garfield and a "deer in the headlights" performance from the main female actress, unconvincingly portraying a British spy. Fortunately, the propaganda is not as heavy as the movies to follow once America entered the War and the movie is better for it.This film comes off slightly above its contemporaries because of this restraint, but seems, justifiably, rushed and not very complex. It is this lack of sophistication (all the U-Boats just float ON THE SURFACE waiting to be bombed) and some unbelievable plot turns that diminish this to a watchable period piece and kept it from becoming a more engaging and effective effort.A potentially powerful work that the studio did not seem to embrace except as a programmer to program the audience toward and inevitable inclusion in the struggle against fascism that is marching menacingly through Europe and will soon enter our airspace the same year.

Working for a British group, pretty Nancy Coleman (as Jane) is kidnapped in a New York cab. An unexpected car accident lands her in the temporary safety of a hospital, under the care of unlikely intern John Garfield (as Michael "Mike" Lewis). Mr. Garfield wants to investigate Ms. Goodman because he's interested in amnesia cases. Garfield becomes even more intrigued when Coleman tells him she's not really forgetful, but being pursued by Nazi spies. Coleman doesn't want to go home with the man claiming to be her father, but he produces family pictures proving she's her daughter.Psychic amnesia expert, and former Garfield professor, Raymond Massey (as Ingersoll) is hired as head shrink, by the wealthy Goodwin family. They have trouble getting "daughter" Coleman to return home, so Mr. Massey suggests Garfield come along as in-house physician. Garfield thinks their mansion is beautiful, but Coleman says it's a "concentration camp." It's really too bad "Dangerously They Live" makes it clear who the bad guys are, because this picture had greater potential.Marion Parsonnet's story should have received a better treatment. It has a Hitchcockian sensibilities, but squanders much suspense potential. Imagine, for instance, a little re-writing and re-editing to make the moment Garfield receives the "Get the girl out of here - she is in grave danger" note the moment you KNOW, for sure, who is telling the truth. And, it would have been easy to adjust Garfield's "intern" character (and wardrobe) to more flatter the actor. He does as well as possible with the assignment, however. Robert Florey's direction, Coleman's debut performance, and Massey are impressive.******* Dangerously They Live (12/24/41) Robert Florey ~ John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey, Moroni Olsen

You can skip this one unless you're determined to see every Warner Bros. movie about spies and Nazis that the studio ever made. That's about the only reason for sitting through this turkey, despite a cast that includes such stalwarts as JOHN GARFIELD, RAYMOND MASSEY and NANCY COLEMAN, all of whom must have wished they were not floundering in a weak script.Garfield looks and acts like a hood, but he's supposed to be a respectable doctor taking care of a patient who claims to have amnesia. (The amnesia theme got quite a workout throughout the '40s as a convenient plot device). But here it turns out that the woman patient (Coleman) is only pretending to have amnesia because some Nazi spies are hot on her trail.When Garfield allows her to be taken to a private sanitarium where she will be taken care of by the seemingly helpful Raymond Massey, he soon discovers that the house she is sheltered in is really a place for her to be kept prisoner until she divulges some wartime secrets.There's a little suspense in all of this, but none of the performers seem to be in top form and Garfield seems ill at ease in his doctor role.Summing up: Not quality stuff. Has all the earmarks of a quickly produced potboiler.

Nancy Coleman plays an British agent based in Washington D.C during the Second World War who has some vital information about Allied convoys which German agents are keen to get their hot and sticky little hands on it and none too scrupulous about how they do it .They capture her but she escapes from their clutches only to be involved in an auto accident which leaves her concussed and with memory loss, Enter John Garfield as the intern in charge of her case .He facilitates her recovery but -suspecting many of the people who claim to know her are in fact Nazi agents -she continues to feign amnesia .She is taken into a private sanatorium by an eminent psychologist ( Raymond Massey ) who is a Nazi agent and which turns out to be a prison in all but name .All the servants and other help are "de facto" wardens and the last part of the movie deals with the attempt of Coleman and Garfield to escape and prevent the bad guys extracting the vital information from them Garfield was unenthusiastic about doing this movie -and agreed to do so only because he could not afford another suspension by the studio .It shows in a lacklustre performance and Raymond Massey has no problem stealing the acting honours in what is a proficient but minor Warner Brothers melodrama -watchable but not exceptional