5 Steps to Danger
{{short description|1957 film}}
{{Infobox film
| name = 5 Steps to Danger
| image = Five_Steps_to_Danger_poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Henry S. Kesler
| producer = Henry S. Kesler
| screenplay = Henry S. Kesler
| story = Donald Hamilton
Turnley Walker
| based_on = {{Based on|The Steel Mirror
1948 story in The Saturday Evening Post|Donald Hamilton}}
| starring = Ruth Roman
Sterling Hayden
| music = Paul Sawtell
Bert Shefter
| cinematography = Kenneth Peach
| editing = Aaron Stell
| color_process = Black and white
| studio = Henry S. Kesler Productions
Grand Productions
| distributor = United Artists
| released = {{Film date|1957|01|30|New York City}}
| runtime = 80 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
}}
5 Steps to Danger is a 1957 American film noir crime film directed, produced, and co–written by Henry S. Kesler.{{sfn|Goble|1999|page=204}}{{cite web|url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17117/5-steps-to-danger#credits|title=5 Steps to Danger|author=|work=Turner Classic Movies|publisher=Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner)|location=Atlanta|access-date=December 12, 2023}} It stars Ruth Roman{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/360/000130967/|title=Ruth Roman|author=|work=NNDB|publisher=Soylent Communications|location=United States|access-date=May 13, 2017}} and Sterling Hayden,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9901EFD61230E23BBC4950DFB766838C649EDE|title=Palace Offers 'Five Steps to Danger'|author=|work=The New York Times|location=New York City|date=January 31, 1957|access-date=May 13, 2017}} with a cast that also included Werner Klemperer,{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/309/000072093/|title=Werner Klemperer|author=|work=NNDB|publisher=Soylent Communications|location=United States|access-date=May 13, 2017}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbJ_AQAAQBAJ&q=Werner+Klemperer+as+Dr.+Simmons&pg=PT105|title=Hogan's Heroes : Behind the Scenes at Stalag 13!|first=Brenda Scott|last=Royce|publisher=Renaissance Books|location=Milwaukee|edition=1st|year=1998|isbn=978-1580630313}} Richard Gaines,{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/360/000278523/|title=Richard Gaines|author=|work=NNDB|publisher=Soylent Communications|location=United States|access-date=May 13, 2017}} Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, and Peter Hansen.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/53/Peter-Hansen.html|title=Peter Hansen|author=|work=Film Reference Library|publisher=TIFF Bell Lightbox|location=Toronto|access-date=December 12, 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/139/000275311/|title=Peter Hansen|author=|work=NNDB|publisher=Soylent Communications|location=United States|access-date=May 13, 2017}} 5 Steps to Danger was based on the novel The Steel Mirror by Donald Hamilton.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/steel-mirror-Donald-Hamilton/dp/B0007F31CC|title=The Steel Mirror|first=Donald|last=Hamilton|author-link=Donald Hamilton|publisher=Rinehart & Company|location=New York City|year=1948|asin=B0007F31CC}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/01/28/archives/6-films-planned-by-ampar-corp-3000000-will-be-invested-in.html|title=6 FILMS PLANNED BY AM-PAR CORP.: $3,000,000 Will Be Invested in Medium-Budget Movies During Next Half Year Of Local Origin|first=Thomas M.|last=Pryor|work=The New York Times|location=New York City|date=January 28, 1957|page=18|access-date=June 1, 2013|url-access=subscription}}
Plot
John Emmett, an American everyman, is on a fishing and hunting trip when his car breaks down. He is offered a ride by a stranger, Ann Nicholson, who is driving to Santa Fe. She asks him to take turns behind the wheel.
During a stopover a woman identifying herself as a nurse takes John aside in a diner and says she has been following them because Ann is an escaped mental patient of a Dr. Frederick Simmons. And although he is not sure what to believe, John begins to doubt Ann when two policemen attempt to arrest them, claiming to be investigating a murder in Los Angeles.
John and Ann slip away. He demands the truth, whereupon Ann says she is an ex-German citizen who stumbled upon a government plot and is in possession of valuable scientific transcripts embedded on a small cosmetic mirror. In order to prevent Simmons from having Ann committed to a mental institution against her will, John asks Ann to marry him, while also declaring his love for her. They wed in a small town and then continue their journey to find the scientist who wrote the transcripts. The chase ends in a confrontation between Simmons, who is actually a Soviet spy, and his accomplices versus FBI and CIA agents, who verify Ann's story. Ann and John enjoy their honeymoon on the fishing trip John had originally planned.
Cast
- Ruth Roman as Ann Nicholson
- Sterling Hayden as John Emmett
- Werner Klemperer as Dr. Simmons
- Richard Gaines as Dean Brant
- Charles Davis as Agent Kirkpatrick
- Jeanne Cooper as Helen Bethke
- Peter Hansen as Karl Plesser
- Karl Ludwig Lindt as Kissel (as Karl Lindt)
- John Mitchum as Deputy
- John Frederick as Sheriff (as John Merrick)
- Ken Curtis as Agent Jim Anderson (uncredited)
Reception
=Critical response=
The New York Times wrote that the film was "a rather lax and familiar melodrama about Communist espionage in this country, offers two real jolts. The climax, and this may be an unfair revelation, has a known subversive given some leeway inside a vital guided missile plant. Secondly, the place seems about as inaccessible as a drive-in restaurant. [...] The responsibility, or irresponsibility, must be shouldered by Henry S. Kesler, who handled the screenwriting, the directing and producing, and none of it very well."
=Release=
References
{{reflist}}
=Sources=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=5+Steps+to+Danger+was+co%E2%80%93written+by+Henry+S.+Kesler.&pg=PA204|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film| editor1-last = Goble | editor1-first =Alan |publisher=De Gruyter Saur|location=Berlin|year=1999|isbn=978-3598114922|page=204 }}
{{refend}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0050087}}
- {{tcmdb title|id=17117}}
- {{AFI film|52176}}
{{Edward Small}}
Category:1950s English-language films
Category:American anti-communist propaganda films
Category:American crime thriller films
Category:1950s crime thriller films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films scored by Paul Sawtell
Category:Films scored by Bert Shefter