Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on February 4, 2011

The top ten! I had imagined that I would write extensive blurbs for each of the posters that made the final list, but I realized in the course of preparing the images for posting that these posters, like all superior examples of graphic design, really speak for themselves. Heck, the...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on January 29, 2011

Almost there! The top twenty is here, and every poster is noir-significant and sharp as a knife. Hold onto your hats for the top ten though, I’m getting curious to hear what everyone thinks will get the top spot. Feel free to chime in with a guess — I’ll happily...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on January 21, 2011

Hello cheesecake! It’s dirty old man week in the countdown! In other news, I’ve increased the pixel-quality of the posters: from now on all of the digital files are 900 pixels wide instead of 700, and saved with the least amount of JPEG compression possible. Also, welcome to all the...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on January 14, 2011

Here we go again…just three weeks now until poster number one! I wonder if anyone will be able to guess it? All I know, is that the top ten is sure to please. A reader asked if I could upload the remaining posters at higher resolution. I'll do it for...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on January 7, 2011

Welcome to the countdown — we’ve crossed some imaginary line in the sand and I think there’s a huge uptick in the quality of the work as of this week. I hope you enjoy the selections as the countdown moves fatefully forward.50. Murder, My SweetThis poster, aside from simply being...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 31, 2010

Welcome back! With this post we’ve reached the halfway point in the countdown, which is particularly exciting considering that from here on out the images only get better!I hope one and all are having a relaxing holiday — happy new year! Posters 60 – 51 are on the menu for...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 24, 2010

Bunco, n.: The use of dishonest methods to acquire something of value; a swindle. They oughtta teach Bunco Squad in film school, it’s that good. A 1950 product of the famed RKO B unit, it’s a first-rate example of narrative economy and overall B picture-making. Now I’m no knuckleh   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 17, 2010

Week Four, looks like men and women clutching at each other is the theme for the week.I’ve made it through the finals week slog and moving my faculty office one door to the right (yes!). Now I’m anxious to see more and more significant posters as we progress ever deeper...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 10, 2010

Welcome to week three of the countdown, numbers 80 – 71 are on the menu for today. My blurbs are going to be a little more brief than usual (probably a good thing) because it’s finals week here on campus, and students and professors alike are rushing to wrap up...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 7, 2010

Mickey Rooney plays John “Killer” Mears in 1959’s The Last Mile, a remake of the 1932 Preston Foster film of the same name. Both are based on a stage play by John Wexley, who should be quite well known to crime film buffs as the screenwriter of such classics as...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on December 3, 2010

Round two, let's go!90. Johnny Stool PigeonI’d like this poster a whole lot more if not for two things: the contrived pose of Dan Duryea — I can just see the photographer giving him direction, “Dan, hold the gun a little higher…”; and the fact that the designer has made   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on November 26, 2010

Let’s get started! I have a feeling that as I go through this countdown, I’ll be waging a continuous battle against my own judgment, and the compulsion to reorder my selections. As I pause over each image to write the blurbs, I find myself noticing new details and making new...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on November 23, 2010

“Oh, I don’t mind being alone, I’m used to it.” I love Ida Lupino as much as the next guy, but I much prefer her rough and raspy screen persona to the meek and skittish Ida we meet in Jennifer. She plays Agnes Langley, a burgeoning spinster-type who accepts a...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on November 19, 2010

It’s time for a new feature on Where Danger Lives. The blog officially turned two years old (yesterday, actually!) and the time is ripe to branch out a little. The crime film essays are still going to go up as quickly as I can crank ’em out, but I've been...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on November 11, 2010

I have a great deal of affection for Poverty Row film noirs, but more often than not I wish big stars would treat them like Kryptonite. 1954’s Highway Dragnet is a case in point. Richard Conte is reliable as ever, but Joan Bennett is done a great disservice, and devotees...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on November 5, 2010

Gene Barry, who made his mark on television as the star of such popular programs as Bat Masterson and Burke’s Law, plays an undercover CIA man on the trail of a kidnapped Arabian prince in the ultra low-budget back-lot thriller Hong Kong Confidential. With a title like that, how can...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on October 28, 2010

"If anything should happen tonight, don't blame me." Edge of Fury? Certainly you mean Edge of Doom, or Edge of the City, right? Until yesterday I’d never even heard of Edge of Fury, and it turns out few others had either: it only has five votes in IMDb(!). It’s obscurity...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on October 15, 2010

Generalizations about the sexes are treacherous, but men and women alike agree that there’s a certain kind of girl who invariably finds herself attracted to the wrong type of guy. Such relationships have been film fodder since the birth of the medium, and1946’s Her Kind of Man is no diff   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on September 24, 2010

Why anyone would actually want a career in the movies is beyond me. It’s murder. Aspiring actors queue up hoping to be one of the lucky ones, the kind with a forty-year fairy tale of a career, financial security, and maybe even an award some magical late-February night. But it...   read more

Where Danger Lives Posted by Mark on September 11, 2010

In the opening moments of RKO’s 1949 second feature Strange Bargain, everyman husband and father Sam Wilson ducks a well-aimed daily newspaper as he reaches to grab the milk from his suburban front porch. It’s a slick bit of foreshadowing: take but a step outside your front door, and you   read more