Watch Background to Danger For Free

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Actor George Raft famously blew his chance to play "Rick" in CASABLANCA, opting for BACKGROUND TO DANGER instead. Raft is no Humphrey Bogart, and Brenda Marshall cannot hold a candle to Ingrid Bergman. Though Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are on hand to lend DANGER a few CASABLANCA touches, DANGER is far too wordy, and few--if any--of the words are memorable (with the exception of "Ana" reciting the first paragraph of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address). If you consider the script for CASABLANCA to be "a Lincoln," then the writer of DANGER churned out a James Buchanan or an Andrew Johnson (two "Corvair" presidents). It's hard to know for sure whom to impeach for DANGER's thin broth: Mr. Raft, screenwriter W.R. Burnett, director Raoul Walsh, or all of the above. The plot of DANGER is overwrought (if not ahead of its time); it would be more suitable for a James Bond flick set in the 1960s. No one wants to be entertained by SUBTLE Nazis--they MUST be callously brutal (as in SCHINDLER'S LIST) or paranoid (see MARATHON MAN).

This film, expertly directed by Raoul Walsh, is based on a novel by Eric Ambler and William Faulkner worked on the screenplay. So that's a good start. The film is topical again because it deals with the politics and security of Turkey, and is set in Ankara. This is a rousing and powerful wartime espionage thriller. It is not like a modern thriller at all, but is of the traditionalist mode. It does however have one modern feature: an extensive car chase. But the modern wham bam style of one explosion after another and of a new shock or thrill happening every ten seconds is entirely absent. I must confess that I prefer these slightly calmer and less insane thrillers, where some character development can take place. In this film, the incomparable Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre give some of their finest screen performances. The script by W. R. Burnett was worked on enough to allow them scope to emerge from flat cardboard and become popup. That is very satisfying to those of us who think they were both wonderful and can never see enough of them. I have never been an admirer of George Raft, who gives me the creeps. But I have to admit that in this film he does a very good job and I cannot find any cause to complain or indulge my prejudices, but have to say well done George. He always had a good ability to underplay and avoid histrionics. However, the narrowing of his eyes always reminds me of a python. The two gals are Osa Massen, who does an excellent job early in the story of being furtive and fearful and mysterious, before she gets killed, and Brenda Marshall, who is also excellent and lively. So this film really works and is definitely one of the best wartime efforts to educate the American public about the location and existence of foreign lands of which they knew nothing, and of their importance within the context of the world war which was raging at the time. If only the future of Turkey had been satisfactorily resolved, but that has still not happened, as we all know. This film attempts to emulate the atmosphere of the previous year's hit, CASABLANCA, but George Raft is far too cold a hero to act as the catalyst for any love chemistry, unless with a fellow reptile. Even when he smiles, you wonder what insect he is going to eat. However, we do not really need Ingrid Bergman and Bogart and Paul Henreid in everything. After all, CASABLANCA was not really a thriller, it was a tragic love story and romance in which two people sacrifice their own happiness for the greater good, which is the true secret of its success. All the wartime intrigue of CASABLANCA was just a background, in the same way that the American Civil War was just a background to the central love story in GONE WITH THE WIND. This film makes forays in the direction of romance, but its true purpose is to be an espionage thriller, and in that it succeeds admirably.

Completely Forgettable, if not for all the "Names" attached. The "A" list ranges from the Writers (credited or otherwise, the Director, and the Stars (top and under-billed). It culminates in one of the most stilted, interwoven, and flat looking Movies to come out of the "War Years" Propaganda assembly line.While all the parts are here to manufacture at least an Entertaining Flag Waiver, it is surprisingly a Lemon. There is hardly a Swastika in sight (maybe a Flag or two here and there) and the Nazis are mostly Semi-Shady Characters that are hardly threatening. Even the Cultured Fat Man is more amusing than intimidating.Not a Dud, but everyone on screen seems uninspired, considering the fate of the Free World is at hand, and it looks too Studio Bound (except for one accelerating car chase) to have an International feel. This one is for checklist completest only.

International intrigue in hot spot Ankara, Turkey, during World War II is the center of this secret agent tail. Nasty Nazi Dr. Robinson (Sydney Greenstreet) plots to use lies in the press to push Turkey to ally itself with Germany against Russia. American Joe Barton (George Raft) is posing as a businessman when he falls into possession of falsified documents the Germans want printed in a sympathizing newspaper. Barton is soon mixed up with the Zaleshoffs (Peter Lorre and Brenda Marshall), a brother and sister claiming to be Russian spies who are after the same documents. Barton has trouble believing anyone, because they all attack him at various times and at least one of them is a cold-blooded killer. The plot had potential, but director Raoul Walsh did not seem to know quite what to do with a story of this nature and there is a complete lack of real emotion in the proceedings. He also seemed to be saddled with a low budget (the miniature train is painfully obvious). His three male stars all but play caricatures of themselves. Raft is all buttoned up and monosyllabic, Greenstreet is almost a cartoon, and Lorre chews the scenery and comes out best. Yet it is still a pretty good movie (if you can withstand being yelled out for the first five minutes and the overcooked musical scoring.) There is a great aura of suspicion over everyone, which leaves you guessing at everyone's connection with everyone else. There is also a great car chase, noir cinematography from Tony Gaudio that caresses Raft's closeups fondly, and some good visual bits that will make you smile.