Jeopardy

1953

1h 9m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

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14 Images

Crime

Drama

Thriller

A woman is kidnapped when she goes to get help for her husband who is trapped on a beach with the tide coming in to surely drown him.

Directors

John Sturges

Writers

Maurice Zimm(story by)

Mel Dinelli(screenplay by)

Stars

Barbara Stanwyck

Barry Sullivan

Ralph Meeker

See production, box office & company info

Top cast

Helen Stilwin

Doug Stilwin

Lawson the Fugitive

Bobby Stilwin

Officer at 1st Roadblock (uncredited)

Salvador Baguez

Officer at 1st Roadblock (uncredited)

Bob Castro

Police Machine Gunner (uncredited)

Carlos Conde

Tijuana Vendor (uncredited)

George L. Derrick

Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)

Paul Fierro

Mexican Lieutenant

Sol Gorss

Captain's Driver Talking to Helen (uncredited)

Margarita Martín

Mexican Mother (uncredited)

Victor Milner

Bit Part (uncredited)

Alex Montoya

Officer with Walkie-Talkie at 2nd Barricade (uncredited)

George Navarro

Tijuana Vendor (uncredited)

Charles Stevens

Mexican Father

Ken Terrell

Officer at 2nd Barricade (uncredited)

Louis Tomei

Officer at 2nd Barricade (uncredited)

Directors

John Sturges

Writers

Maurice Zimm(story by)

Mel Dinelli(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Peligro! Jeopardy is directed by John Sturges and adapted to screenplay by Mel Dinelli from Maurice Zimm's radio play "A Question of Time". It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker and Lee Aaker. Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Victor Milner. Running just shy of 70 minutes, Jeopardy is a classic lesson in how to garner great suspense from a small cast and set-up. Beginning with jaunty music and the scene setting of a family of three off for a vacation, it's all Americana bliss, but it's not long before fate deals the family some bad cards and we land firmly in thriller territory. The dialogue is safe and assured, with the stars turning in rich characterisations as written, particularly a wonderfully oily Meeker as the villain of the piece. Though very much plein air as a production, a claustrophobic and fraught air grips the play and drags the viewer in wholesale, a sense of cruel luck, danger and ironies hold things in a noir realm. While a turn of events in the narrative is deftly played, the sub-text shattering to the point we don't need to see it to feel it. Unfortunately some irritants stop it from hitting the top end of the scale. Daft ironies and highly improbable contrivances chip away at the pic's other strengths, one scene has the son (Aaker) trapped on a dilapidated pier, to which his dad calls out "stay right where you are", I mean really, what else was the lad going to do?! Some crude back projection work also dampens down some otherwise nice production touches (Calif locales just lovely), while the ending kinda dilutes a previous moral kicker. But irritants aside, this holds its head up high as a picture well worth investing time in. 7.5/10

John Chard30 Sep, 2017