It's not Hitchcock quality, but this yarn about World War II espionage in New York is fast-paced fun. It lives up to its intriguing title.Nancy Coleman plays a beautiful British agent who's hiding a big secret and trying to keep one step ahead of the Nazis. When she briefly lands in a hospital, she fakes amnesia to fool her pursuers, then confides in a young intern (played by John Garfield). Though he likes her looks, he doesn't believe a word of her story, and the two find themselves in plenty of hot water before they finally turn into an effective team.I have read that Garfield resented having to make this movie. Maybe he preferred "serious" films to escapism, but maybe he just disliked the character he played. The young intern is really dimwitted. It takes clue after clue to convince him that the conspiracy is real. And even afterward, he keeps falling for the Nazis' tricks. He's constantly exclaiming, either with words or with his facial expression, "Gosh, now I get it!" Coleman's character is the bright one. Her spy is resourceful and tough (though more reckless than she ought to be).The villains are the real stars here. Raymond Massey is always terrific as a manipulative fiend, and Moroni Olsen keeps up with him as his fellow ringleader. When the two ruthless Nazis turn on the charm and pull the wool over decent people's eyes, you want to laugh and hiss at the same time. The contrast between their skillful charade and the transparent thuggery of their minions (played by such veteran heavies as John Harmon and Ben Welden) adds some comic relief.The end is fairly predictable and less clever than the beginning. (This is not Hitchcock, as noted before.) But unless you truly hate romantic spy films, "Dangerously They Live" will give you a few smiles.

I am usually pretty critical of films compared to the average contributor to IMDb, though this is a bit unusual because I apparently liked this movie a lot more than the average viewer. Although I admit that the movie in a few places was a bit rough (such as the whole idea of using Amnesia for a plot device and the sloppy use of stock footage towards the end of the movie), the film was a major improvement over the usual WWII American propaganda flick. My love for this genre and the fact that I always try to find and watch as many of these films as possible makes my perspective a little different than some viewers. Compared to other similar films, the German spies are actually a lot more believable and less stupid than usual. Plus, although the movie definitely starts off poorly and seems contrived, as the film progressed it got much, much better--and offered a lot of great twists and turns that actually surprised me (and this DOESN'T happen a lot with these WWII films). A lot of my being pleasantly surprised is because I initially hated the film when they introduced the whole Amnesia element (it's overused and rarely actually seen by doctors). But, when the Amnesia was only very temporary and Ms. Coleman PRETENDED to have no memory, that made it a little more believable. The film's conclusion is also great--featuring a wonderful confrontation. An excellent and underrated film that is lots of fun.

John Garfield is an intern who cares for a young accident victim in "Dangerously They Live," also starring Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey, and Moroni Olson. This looks like a B movie and is certainly short enough to have been a second feature. This is what Warners put John Garfield in after he made a big splash in "Four Daughters?" Jack Warner must have been punishing him for something.The accident victim in this film, Jane Graystone, played by Coleman, is thought to have amnesia. She is actually a spy for the U.S., and the Nazis are after information she has about a convoy in New Zealand. Moroni Olson poses as her father, a Mr. Goodwin, but she tells Dr. Lewis (Garfield) the true story and asks for his help. Garfield is a little waylaid, however, when one of his teachers, Dr. Ingersoll (Raymond Massey) appears as a doctor on the case. He doesn't realize Ingersoll is part of the Nazi team. Ingersoll allows Dr. Lewis to come "home" with Jane - but home seems more like a prison.Massey turns in an excellent performance and is quite scary as Ingersoll. Coleman, who went on to have a career in television, is pretty, reminiscent of Barbara Rush or Piper Laurie in their youths. However, she's not as good an actress as either of those women. Garfield is appealing but this is not his kind of role. It would be a few more years before he would be given parts more suited to his abilities. Fortunately, he'd have about five years of excellent roles before the blacklist and his early death.Though the movie was made right before Pearl Harbor, the handwriting was on the wall for the U.S. The theme of Nazis in our midst was in several films of that time, including "All Through the Night."

Alfred Hitchcok is not my favorite director by any means but imagine what he could have done with this! The plot holds much potential for suspense. John Garfield is as almost always excellent and Raymond Massey is scarily cast against type. Nancy Coleman is not a very impressive leading lady but the supporting cast is large and very capable.Yes it starts to sag fairly early. There are too many coincidences. And an important subject is trivialized by its being made into little more, in the end, than a love story.It's fun to watch for Garfield, Massey, and the character performers. But it's not awfully good.