On Dangerous Ground (1951)

A city police detective (Robert Ryan) is bitter and angry and with a rage inside him that causes him to brutally beat suspects to force confessions out of them. There's the touch of the sadist about him because he seems to enjoy it. His brutal ways cause him to be sent out of the city into a small snowbound upstate community where a young girl has been murdered. Based on the novel MAD WITH MUCH HEART by Gerald Butler and directed by Nicholas Ray (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE). This film noir stands out for several reasons. There's no femme fatale and half of the film takes place in a rustic small town rather than a metropolitan city. There's no corrupt villain, the film's killer (Sumner Williams) is a frightened psychologically disturbed teenager. But George E. Diskant's (THEY LIVE BY NIGHT) B&W lensing and Bernard Herrmann's dark underscore firmly plant the film in noir territory. It's fitting that Ryan's protagonist literally comes out of the darkness (the city) into the light (the snow covered country) as his psychological journey, aided by the killer's blind sister (Ida Lupino), matches his physical journey. With Ward Bond (overacting), Ed Begley, Cleo Moore, Nita Talbot, Olive Carey and Frank Ferguson.