''5 Steps to Danger'' is a 1957 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed, produced, and co–written by Henry S. Kesler. It stars Ruth Roman and

Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...

, with a cast that also included

Werner Klemperer Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was an American actor. He was best known for playing List of Hogan's Heroes characters#Colonel Klink, Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', for which he twic ...

, Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, and Peter Hansen. ''5 Steps to Danger'' was based on the novel '' The Steel Mirror'' by

Donald Hamilton Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime ...

Plot

John Emmett, an American

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...

, 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 *

as John Emmett *

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 Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American actor and singer best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the Western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Early years Born the youngest of three boys in ...

as Agent Jim Anderson (uncredited)

Reception

Critical response

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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

''5 Steps to Danger'' was released in theatres on January 30, 1957.

References

Sources

External links

* * * {{Edward Small 1957 films Film noir Cold War spy films 1950s English-language films American road movies American anti-communist propaganda films American crime thriller films 1950s crime thriller films American black-and-white films Films scored by Paul Sawtell Films scored by Bert Shefter 1950s American films English-language crime thriller films Films based on works by Donald Hamilton