5 Steps to Danger **½ (1956, Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer, Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, Peter Hansen) – Classic Movie Review 11,537

The 1956  American film noir crime movie Five Steps to Danger is an interesting Cold War thriller with brisk, sometimes imaginative handling from writer-producer-director Henry S Kesler and involving star performances by the underrated Sterling Hayden and Ruth Roman, plus some strong character acting.

Werner Klemperer plays Dr Frederick Simmons, a spy who sends Ann Nicholson (Roman) to a mental home to stop her delivering the secret code on her small cosmetic mirror to the allies. Can John Emmett (Hayden), whom she has picked up on the road, help her to escape communist spies and the FBI to get the secrets to nuclear scientists in New Mexico?

Also notable in the cast are Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, John Mitchum, John Merrick, Peter Hansen, and Jeanne Cooper.

5 Steps to Danger is based on Donald Hamilton’s Saturday Evening Post story and novel The Steel Mirror.

Werner Klemperer is conductor Otto Klemperer’s son.

The cast are Ruth Roman as Ann Nicholson, Sterling Hayden as John Emmett, Werner Klemperer as Dr Simmons, Richard Gaines as Dean Brant, Charles Davis as Kirk, Jeanne Cooper as Helen Bethke, Peter Hansen as Karl Plesser, Karl Ludwig Lindt [Karl Lindt] as Kissel, John Mitchum as Deputy, and John Frederick [John Merrick] as Sheriff.

Five Steps to Danger is directed by Henry S Kesler, runs 80 minutes, is made by Henry S Kesler Productions and Grand Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Henry S Kesler, is shot in black and white by Kenneth Peach, is produced by Henry S Kesler and is scored by Paul Sawtell

Ruth Roman (born Norma Roman; December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999) is remembered for the Western film Harmony Trail (1944), the serial film Jungle Queen (1945), the title role of Belle Starr’s Daughter (1948), The Window (1949), Champion (1949) and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Strangers on a Train (1951). She was foisted on Hitchcock as a Warner Bros contract player, and he didn’t want her, but ironically it is the film she is best remembered for.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,537

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Ruth Roman (December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999).