Cry Danger

Rocky Mulloy was sentenced to life in prison for a robbery and murder that he did not commit. He is released five years later when an "eyewitness", a one-legged ex-Marine named Delong, appears and provides a fake alibi. Delong wants a share of the missing loot: $100,000. Rocky insists he was not involved and sets out to find who framed him, hoping to free his friend Danny Morgan, still in prison for the same crime.

They go see Morgan's wife Nancy, a former love of Rocky's, who now lives in a trailer park. Police Lt. Gus Cobb tells Rocky he will be under 24-hour surveillance.

Rocky believes that bookie Louis Castro is the mastermind. He demands $50,000 at gunpoint. Castro only gives him $500 to bet on a longshot on a fixed horse race. Rocky collects $4000, but he soon finds out that the money is from a payroll robbery, gives it all back to the police, and is nearly arrested until Castro claims he never met with Rocky, a lie the police know is false since they tailed Rocky to Castro's office previously.

Later, two men shoot at Delong and his girlfriend Darlene near Rocky's rented trailer. Driving away to escape, they are shot at and crash. Delong is injured and Darlene is killed. Nancy realizes they were mistaken for Rocky and her. Rocky then plays Russian roulette with Castro, with the gun always pointed at the bookie, until Castro reveals where the robbery money is. He also claims Morgan participated in the robbery and committed the murder and that Nancy has his share. Rocky orders Castro to telephone Cobb and tell him he will make a full confession. Castro instead calls his henchmen, the ones who killed Darlene. However, Rocky is not fooled. He calls Cobb himself, and the two killers walk into a police trap.

Then Rocky goes to see Nancy and tells her he could not find Castro. Nancy confesses she has the money. She says she loves him and begs him to run away together with the loot. Rocky pretends to agree, but leaves her for the law.

• Dick Powell as Rocky Mulloy
• Rhonda Fleming as Nancy Morgan
• Richard Erdman as Delong
• William Conrad as Louie Castro
• Regis Toomey as Detective Lt. Gus Cobb
• Jean Porter as Darlene LaVonne
• Jay Adler as Williams, Trailer Park Manager
• Joan Banks as Alice Fletcher
• Hy Averback as Harry, Bookie

The film was shot in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. The "Crosley" Hotel, built as the Nugent, stood at 3rd and Grand. The Los Amigos bar was at 3rd and Olive. Clover Trailer Park was not in Bunker Hill, but was at 650-700 N. Hill Place in Chinatown. Also seen is "China City", a Chinese themed spinoff of LA's Olvera St,, no longer extant, 500 feet north of Olvera St on Alameda St.

When the film was first released, the staff at Variety magazine liked the film and said, "All the ingredients for a suspenseful melodrama are contained in Cry Danger...Robert Parrish, erstwhile film editor, makes a strong directorial bow.[3]

Time Out's modern on-line magazine review says: "it's the kind of movie in which, told to expect someone extra for dinner, delicious Fleming smiles 'OK, I'll put more water in the soup'. With excellent support players like a young, thin (for him) William Conrad and Jay Adler, this is a fast, crisp and laconic delight."[4]

A restored version of the film was released in 2011. The film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, in coöperation with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., funded by the Film Noir Foundation.[5] The new print was made "from two 35mm acetate composite master positives."[5]

The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation on March 14, 2011[5] and was screened at other North American cities in 2011 including Vancouver.[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cry Danger.

• Cry Danger on IMDb
• Cry Danger at AllMovie
• Cry Danger at the TCM Movie Database
• Cry Danger film trailer on YouTube