Danger Ahead

Yikes, but this is contrived. It could all have been over in five minutes! It's all about "Capt. Matthews" (John Elliott) who turns up at a night club run by "Conrad" (Bryant Washburn) who owes him $40,000 for a cargo he has just delivered. The seedy gent has no intentions of paying him, though, and a contretemps now ensues that ends up seeing a nearby journalist "Mason" (Lawrence Gray), who watched the whole fracas, obtain the cash and use it to help sell his newspapers. Instead of just returning the cash to it's rightful owner - the identity of whom we all know - they run a full spread headline essentially inviting interested parties to come and collect. Of course, this is all part of a cunning plan to expose the dodgy "Bryant" and that task falls to an hapless Irish policeman "O'Brien" (Fred Kelsey) who must trace and face a gang of criminals who, luckily, couldn't hit a cow on the tit with a tin cup. Indeed, it's really the "thwack" and "pow" style of stage thuggery that's most memorable here as the fight scenes almost suggest the intended victim of a blow has a cross drawn on his chin, or his stomach. It's entertaining in a join-the-dots way and the denouement is more soapy than menacing. There is nothing at all here you will remember, but it's no worse than the standard hour long B-features that passed a Saturday afternoon in 1935.

A sea Captain (John Elliott) brings in a cargo of silk for a nightclub owner (Bryant Washburn). Washburn pays the Captain the $40.000 he owes him but then instructs his henchmen to rob the Captain. A newspaper reporter (Lawrence Gray) witnesses the robbery and intervenes. Gray steals the money back for Elliott but must flee the nightclub without returning the cash. Now Washburn sends his men after Gray, who in turn wishes to return the cash to the Captain.

The first thing I noticed about this poverty row adventure film was the number of recognizable actors. The acting itself is a notch above average poverty row. However there are some issues with the film. I'm not sure if it's editing or the screenplay but there are moments when the film's scenes take a very long time to develop. I'll give you an example. A pivotal scene has Gray become aware of the robbery of the Captain. The reporter watches as crooks lock the Captain into a phone booth. Gray does nothing. Then a sliding door opens and a gunman orders the Captain into the room. Gray does nothing. Finally, after an eternity, Gray jumps up and starts to pound on the phone booth.

The other problem is the long disappearance of Elliott. He is intricate to the plot, yet after the Captain is robbed and beaten and lays dazed we do not see him in the story for a long long time. The film is fact plays much like a serial. There is action and stunts but it seems the no one was really worried about the scenario, which is too bad because the cast is quite good.

$40,000 is the main topic of this movie. It moves around quite a bit, and even spends some time in a large sausage. I assume the $40,000 is in $5,000 notes, as it is a very small bundle for such a large amount.

The vocal styles and interesting manner (including the rather strange dance-like movements in some scenes) of almost every actor is fun to watch. Plenty of action as well as the comic elements.

Beware; many of the characters are masters at soft knock-out blows. A light tap, and the person is rendered unconscious for some time. Haha.

There are the "clacky" fist-fights (you know, the odd, light clacking sound of someone getting punched in these old movies as opposed to the explosive deep bass sound of a punch in some modern movies), a very well-done comic piano and vocal performance by the deli bloke (far more entertaining than the one on the David Letterman show for sure), and even chimney-climbing! It's also a lot of fun seeing (and trying to identify) all these old cars from the 1930s.

I consider the writing above average for a movie of this kind and of this era. Certainly worth the hour of enjoyment it brings.

There are other comic/crime dramas from this era. This is certainly one of the more amusing and entertaining ones.

8/10

Danger Ahead is a pretty amusing crime drama that takes pains to either make things painfully obvious before they occur, or make things impossibly clueless and stupid that it becomes amusing. An old sea captain and his daughter go to a club to get the 40,000 dollars he's owed for the cargo he's brought in. But unfortunately, the club's owner, who brought the cargo in, has a scheme (with plenty of eyebrow raising) of robbing the man of his money. After knocking the guy senseless, a newspaper reporter, who's viewed all of this it seems from the table he was sitting at the club, rescues the money from the bad guys, and then holds the money in the newspaper's vault for safekeeping so that the captain can pick it up. (They advertise that on the front page). Well, now hold on a second, why couldn't the reporter just give BACK the money to the captain? He was still at the club. 2nd of all, after the newspaper exposes the embezzlement at the club, why are the bad guys still hanging out there, and better yet, why aren't the cops doing anything? Such ridiculous questions abound in this film. Although the plot is well, implausible, at least Lawrence Harvey makes for an entertaining hero, and the cast does a great job of supporting him. Lot and lots of action here too, so this is a film that never gets boring.

The synopsis to this film listed on IMDB is 100% wrong. There is no Bob Hill in "Danger Ahead" and the plot is entirely different...and there is no armored car.

The story is very simple. A captain has come into money....$40,000 to be exact. However, a gang of idiots who cannot fight pursue him throughout the movie trying to take his money....and again and again, a smart reporter thwarts the mob....aided by his dopey sidekick (Fuzzy Knight).

The story is weak...even for a B-movie. Add to that impossibly inept crooks and you've got a movie that is, at best, a time-passer and nothing more.