On Dangerous Ground

Carlyle Blackwell has been studying medicine at Heidelberg. He is incredulous when when his German friend, William Bailey, tells him that Europe is about to tear itself to pieces in war, and he had better get back to the U.S. He is even more incredulous when he stops at a hotel while waiting for connections and finds beautiful Gail Kane. She has told everyone she is his wife. She has to get out of the country. With his permission, she alters his passport -- and makes him as much a spy on the run as she is.

ON DANGEROUS GROUND has some impressive credentials. Besides the leads, at the top of their fame, the script is by Francis Marion, and the camerawork is by the talented Lucien Andriot, so it's always good to look at. However, the story is pure potboiler, and despite the appeal of the stars and steady and exciting pace at which director Robert Thornby pushes things along, it never exceeds those limits.

What it does succeed in doing is keeping that pace up and never boring. Not many features survive from 1917, and many of those are considered classics, and amidst bits that we admire, we see things that seem bizarre a century later. This movie may never hit those high points, but it is solidly entertaining throughout.