Edge of Doom ** (1950, Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Robert Keith, Paul Stewart, Mala Powers) – Classic Movie Review 5273

Farley Granger stars as disturbed young Martin Lynn who has a conscience attack after he kills a priest in director Mark Robson’s peculiar 1950 religious film noir thriller, based on a novel by Leo Brady, which was a heartfelt personal project of producer Samuel Goldwyn.

[Spoiler alert] The underrated but reliable Dana Andrews is as stalwart as ever as compassionate Father Thomas Roth, one of the priest’s colleagues who searches for the identity of the killer and eventually brings about his repentance. The priest refused to give Lynn’s mother an expensive funeral, and the man’s poverty is revealed to be at the root of the crime, preventing him from marrying or providing his mother with luxuries.

Unfortunately, Philip Yordan, Charles Brackett and Ben Hecht’s screenplay is irritatingly preachy, the part of the troubled youth is just out of Granger’s reach and the Samuel Goldwyn Company and distributors RKO hacked the film about, so viewing it is not entirely a very happy or satisfying experience. It advertises ‘100 BREATH-TAKING MINUTES OF EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SUSPENSE AND PULSE-POUNDING MYSTERY’, which it really can’t deliver – even the running time – it’s only 98 minutes.

However, the still-watchable film has some good performances, and is nicely produced though, while Harry Stradling Sr does make it look extremely sleek in his distinguished black and white noir cinematography.

Also in the cast are Joan Evans, Robert Keith as Detective Lieutenant Mandel, Paul Stewart, Mala Powers, Adele Jergens, John Ridgely, Douglas Fowley, Mabel Paige, Houseley Stevenson Sr, Ellen Corby, Ray Teal, Mary Field, Harold Vermilyea, Howard Chamberlain, Jean Innes, Virginia Brissac, Frances Morris, Eddie Borden, David Clarke, Bess Flowers, Robert Karnes, Mike Lally, Herbert Lytton, George Magrill, Frank O’Connor, Eddie Parker, Gil Perkins and Charles Perry.

It is also known as Stronger than Fear, its GB title.

Granger gets caught in a mob outside the Galaxy cinema movie showing Our Very Own, his previous film with Evans.

Producer Goldwyn himself personally put Granger under studio contract because he thought he had become the biggest star in the movies. Alas, he hadn’t, and he didn’t – but he did triumph twice for Alfred Hitchcock in Rope and Strangers on a Train. Now if Hitchcock had made this film too, it would be something else.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5273

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