Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Lawbolisted Powerful

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

praxistens848 Low-budget but suspenseful Cold War yarn, with Sterling Hayden & Ruth Roman. Hayden is gruff John Emit, whose car breaks down in California on his road to nowhere (supposedly en route to visit his folks in Texas). The suspiciously friendly Ann Nicholson (Roman) offers Emit a lift, as long as he'll drive some. She's going to New Mexico.Along the way, her psychiatrist (the future Col. Klink, Werner Klemperer) & his nurse pop up; with sundry likewise suspicious characters: cops, a university dean, CIA, FBI (Ken "Festus" Curtis), & hired killers. Ann's carrying missile secrets, which are carved into a ladies' mirror. There's a fine sudden twist to the showdown with the guy for whom the missile secrets are meant.For a low-budget thriller, the acting's surprisingly low-key. Hayden does restrained bewilderment very well: quite contrary to his lead role in "The Killing," a couple years before. Roman is also restrained in her role as a suspected spy, with secrets of her own culled from both sides of the globe. As our Dad used to say, "A goody to see again!"

drystyx This is a clever directing job to make a film noir mystery into a good film.Film noir often stumbled from being too Hollywood, with heroes and heroines automatically acting creepy just for the sake of acting creepy.Here, we get the opposite. The best mysteries have the woman being the "woman of mystery", because that is part of being a woman, while being a man means having your mystery come out of your very straight forward approach.Sterling Hayden often acted gruff for the sake of acting gruff. A modern day guy who thought there was always a camera on him.But here he acts more like a believable man from the fifties, or any era before the twenty first century.He becomes the "everyman" who is introduced to a mysterious world, which involves espionage.The CIA and FBI are put in a likable light, which doesn't go over well with those who like the post 1965 cliché. Being 1957, this goes under the old cliché, which really wasn't around long enough to be a cliché. That's why such CIA and FBI characters are still fresh, and in the long run, more believable than the silly assassins of today.What helps here is a great atmosphere. We get some road, and not too much of the cars. We have a few pit stops, and changing scenery, which makes this flow very well.

Alonzo Church Sterling Hayden, a guy stuck in the middle of the desert with a broken down car, agrees to help drive Ruth Roman, a nervous woman in a hurry, to Santa Fe. In doing so, he takes the first of FIVE STEPS TO DANGER.A lot of movies made in the 40s and 50s, intentionally or not, end up celebrating the glories of the American Road, presumably because filming on the highway was cheaper and easier than building a set. This one, featuring views of mid 50s cars, gas stations, roadside dives, vacation lodges and hotel lobbies, is better than most at showing the real look of roadside America, 1955. Additionally, for the first half of the movie, the plot is pretty good, too, as the filmmaker does a decent job of sowing doubt as to whether female lead Ruth Roman is just a gal with a case of nerves, or a dangerous femme fatale. Unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of B films, the premise is better than the execution, and the ultimate implausibility and banality of the goings on makes the second half of the film less interesting. But the rather good start to the movie will probably keep you interested enough to stay to the end, where all is explained by the good-hearted CIA agent.If you are a sucker for midcentury cool or low budget crime dramas, this one is for you. But don't expect a brilliant ending, or a good performance from Werner (Col. Clink) Klemperer.

wordsmith_57 I don't know who wrote the tag line, but there is no terror here. And she was no seductress, only a lady on a mission, and a gang of baddies after her. Then along came John...Ann is a woman who desperately needs to get to Sante Fe. John is on vacation and with his car out of commission agrees to help Ann drive. John's a nice enough guy, and soon finds out that there is more to Ann than meets the eye. There are cops, CIA, FBI, switched identifies, and a plot full of twists and turns. Sterling Hayden plays John and Ruth Roman is Ann. While they were adequate, I couldn't help but wonder what the movie would have been like with Gary Cooper and Suzanne Pleshette, as the leads very much resembled these two known actors. Definitely late night movie fare, but nothing spectacular. The plot had its intriguing moments--you will want to stay awake for the ending. Never mind the stiff acting and the stereotypical government men, the lead actors carried it well enough. Look for Colonel Klink from Hogan's Hereos as the doctor.