There are two consistently recurring stereotypes in noir movies. The first: there is a woman who cannot be trusted. She will be beautiful, she will be extremely tempting, but she cannot be trusted. The second: the protagonist may not be the nicest guy on the block. In fact, he may be the biggest social douchebag you've ever met; but no matter what, he is a good man. He fights to make the world a better place. While these stereotypes are pleasing to watch, over time they can become listless. And that's perhaps why Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground is a refreshing pick to put in a film noir box set.

On Dangerous Ground is a short film (only 82 minutes), which tells the story of Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan), a cop on the edge of breakdown. Wilson cruises the black, grey, and white city of tombstones, dames, and weasels in a quest for justice. The only problem is Wilson has begun to take justice into his own hands through a series of brutal beatings, which force his status as a police officer to come under fire. It is only when he is sent up north (oddly, the city and the countryside seem to be caught between two different seasons) that Wilson begins to learn that a sense of justice cannot consume his life. In less expository terms, think of it as a noir movie that Alfred would pointedly give Batman as a Christmas present.

While On Dangerous Ground will probably never receive the critical acclaim films like The Maltese Falcon, Gilda, The Lady from Shanghai, or Double Indemnity have received, it is a more than entertaining piece of history. The film is a testimony to the fact that sometimes tripping over and around the razor's edge of good and into the plummeting valleys of evil isn't quite the fatal move it seems to be. Ray's morality story may not be as heartwarming as the end of It's a Wonderful Life or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but nevertheless, it's nice to be reminded every once in a while that not all souls are lost.

Along with most of the other films in our noir feature, On Dangerous Ground has just been reissued in volume three of Warner Home Video's Film Noir Classics Collection. The six-disc box set features five individually packaged films from the RKO and MGM vaults, with theatrical trailers and commentary tracks by film historians, as well as an additional, exclusive disc with a documentary (Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light) and five noir-inspired shorts from the 1940s MGM series "Crime Does Not Pay." As of this writing, the box set is the only format through which these films can currently be obtained.

by Megan Giddings