Dangerous Crossing

 

Dangerous Crossing. Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie star in this dark and devious conspiracy driven suspense thriller from 1953. Crain, one of Hollywood’s most beautiful stars ever, plays a new bride setting out on a transatlantic honeymoon cruise. But when her husband vanishes, she discovers that not only can he not be found, but also that no one on the ship has any evidence that he was even booked on the cruise. 75 minutes. CC. 

This 1953 black and white drama was one of the last film noirs. The coming of TV to American homes starting around 1949 resulted in a dramatic drop in theater attendance. Hollywood studios had to drop the old formulas and turn to blockbuster technicolor films featuring wide screens. It was the end of film noir, and the Hollywood Golden Age. 

Still Dangerous Crossing is a good, if not great, suspense drama with fine performances by Crain and Rennie. Some critics pan Crain's performance as a woman in danger, but I never can see anything but good in this beautiful actress. She came to Hollywood in 1940 as a fifteen year old beauty queen, and rose to stardom despite getting married and having five or six children. Some of my favorite Crain films are State Fair, Vicki, and A Letter to Three Wives.

Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie

 The cinematography by Joseph LaShelle is excellent and the eerie musical score consists mainly of the ship's foghorn as the cruise liner wends its way through the Atlantic fog. Here is a link to an excellent blogpost by a female fan of Michael Rennie, but who regarded Jean Crain's performance as "spectacularly awful." I disagree.

I viewed the film on DVD but the full film is available on Youtube.

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