Tonight's Movie: Sudden Danger (1955) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

SUDDEN DANGER (1955) is another solid film in the Bill Elliott Detective Mysteries Collection, available from the Warner Archive.

SUDDEN DANGER followed DIAL RED O (1955), which I reviewed earlier this month.

This time around Det. Lt. Andy Doyle (Elliott) is investigating the apparent suicide of the mother of a blind man (Tom Drake).

Andy quickly deduces it was murder, but whodunit? Her ostensibly loving son, who might have wanted her money for an eye surgery? His girlfriend (Beverly Garland)? Someone else?

SUDDEN DANGER may not be great cinema, but it does exactly what a series movie should, provide enjoyable entertainment for around an hour -- 65 minutes, in this case. It's about on a par with a solid episode of DRAGNET.

Reliable faces like Lyle Talbot and Frank Jenks turn up to move things along, and all in all, it's a fun story, by the reliable Daniel B. Ullman; Ullman cowrote the script with Elwood Ullman.

One thing that puzzled me -- if Tom Drake's character was blinded by eye drops, how did it happen in both eyes and not just one? Did he not realize the problem until he'd used them in both eyes? It seems like he might have had a clue after the first one...

Hubert Cornfield directed, with black and white cinematography by Ellsworth Fredricks.

Like DIAL RED O, SUDDEN DANGER is a very nice print with no extras. It's great to have these movies available in such good condition from the Warner Archive.

I'll be reviewing the three additional films in the set in the future.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD collection. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection at the WBShop.