Dead Men Are Dangerous (1939)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a charming period piece, made just before the War in Britain. Much of it was filmed in Hyde Park, both during the day and at night time, and there are some interesting shots of pre-War London. The film is an 'identity thriller' about a man who is depressed at his failure in life, and who changes identities with a man he finds lying dead in a forest. However, as is often the case with these identity switch dramas, the man whom he 'becomes' is a criminal, and things go very badly, with many dangerous situations. Robert Newton plays the lead. The character is meant to be overly excitable, verging continuously on hysteria, but in my opinion, Newton over-acts in the part. The film is known under two titles, its original being DEAD MEN ARE DANGEROUS, later changed to DANGEROUS MASQUERADE. It was the second feature film directed by Harold French, his next being THE HOUSE OF THE ARROW (1940), which I did not bother to review, as it was not very good. By 1942, French had become a much better director, and directed the wartime classic UNPUBLISHED STORY (1942, see my review). In 1952, he directed a Simenon tale, THE Paris EXPRESS (see my review), and in 1955 he directed THE MAN WHO LOVED REDHEADS, which was very disappointing and mediocre (see my review). It seems that his QUIET WEEKEND (1946) is a very good film, but I have not been able to obtain a copy. One of the fine performances in DEAD MEN ARE DANGEROUS is the maid Gladys, played by Merle Tottenham, a delightful character actress. The girl Newton is in love with but is too proud to marry because she is rich and he is poor is played by Betty Lynne, a nice English girl with a sweet smile and good manners who represented all that was desirable in thirties Britain. This film is good for a rainy afternoon to those who do not demand too much of old English movies.

Robert Newton was one of the finest actors of his generation.He gave some wonderfully restrained performances even though he is best remembered for his portrayal of long john silver.It is truly a tragedy that he drank himself into an early graves.His output is rather varied as it does depend on the director.Here Harold French does sometimes let Newton off the leash with unfortunate results.the scene in the coroners court is one instance.After all he could hardly have looked less obtrusive had he tried.The story is alas riddled with inconsistencies and is very muddled and poorly handled.If you are a fan of Newton you will enjoy this film otherwise you may find it slightly silly.