Where Danger Lives Reviews

A mediocre film noir which is saved only by Mitchum's fine performance as a reputable doctor whose relationship with O'Sullivan is disrupted when he falls for suicidal patient Domergue. Without realizing her weak mental state, Mitchum begins to get involved with her, eventually asking her father, Rains, for permission to marry her. When he finds out that Rains is actually her husband, a fight ensues resulting in a concussion for Mitchum. When he comes to, he finds Rains dead. Domergue explains that a brutal Mitchum punch killed him, but actually it was she who committed the murder, suffocating her unconscious husband. Domergue talks Mitchum into fleeing to Mexico with her, all the while being tracked by police. They devise a complicated plan to cross the border, but soon Mitchum starts doubting her. While Domergue still has a chance, she tries to suffocate Mitchum. Leaving him for dead, she heads for the border, only to be followed by Mitchum when he regains consciousness. She is ready to cross when Mitchum arrives. After a shootout, Mitchum is wounded, while Domergue is gunned down by the Border Patrol, clearing Mitchum of the murder with her final breaths, and thereby enabling him to resume his life with O'Sullivan. WHERE DANGER LIVES was Howard Hughes' effort to make Faith Domergue a star of the status of Jane Russell, his previous creation. After declaring that VENDETTA--Domergue's previous film and the one that was supposed to catapult her to stardom--was a washout, Hughes decided to postpone that film's release and star Domergue opposite someone of a greater stature than VENDETTA star George Dolenz, namely Robert Mitchum. Domergue's career peaked with WHERE DANGER LIVES, and she was eventually relegated to such unmemorable films as PREHISTORIC PLANET WOMEN (1966), once again proving Hughes' lack of star-making ability.