I'm not surprised John Garfield didn't enjoy making "Dangerously They Live." It is a poor film with a weak plot and no imagination in the script at all. Even the action scenes are below par. John Garfield and Jack Warner weren't seeing eye to eye at this point over the films the actor was told to do. The plot involves a rather neurotic hospital patient (Nancy Coleman) and a bunch of Nazis led by Raymond Massey. That is all there is to this film. I only glance at this nonsense to see John Garfield.

This is a "spies among us" movie of World War ii with a fairly outrageous plot concerning a woman played by Nancey Coleman who may or may not be an amnesia victim who comes under the care of a young intern, John Garfield. She's been in a rather grisly taxi wreck. She has no cuts, bruises apparent, but can't remember who she is. Moroni Olsen shows up and claims to be her Father. Whenever Moroni Olsen appears in a film, you can be sure something is up. Raymond Massey is called in as a suspiciously too affable specialist. There are Nazis at work here. We know because when we are in their clubhouse behind a delicatessen, there are swastikas on the wall. Usually a dead give-away. There is a creepy mansion with a creepy staff and the butler wears a pistol under his frock coat. Robert Florey, a French director, who was never quite given his due in the studio days adds some European touches here and there, including a funny shot of a dead body rising on a silent butler. Mr. Florey does menace well.

Working for a British group, pretty Nancy Coleman (as Jane) is kidnapped in a New York cab. An unexpected car accident lands her in the temporary safety of a hospital, under the care of unlikely intern John Garfield (as Michael "Mike" Lewis). Mr. Garfield wants to investigate Ms. Goodman because he's interested in amnesia cases. Garfield becomes even more intrigued when Coleman tells him she's not really forgetful, but being pursued by Nazi spies. Coleman doesn't want to go home with the man claiming to be her father, but he produces family pictures proving she's her daughter.Psychic amnesia expert, and former Garfield professor, Raymond Massey (as Ingersoll) is hired as head shrink, by the wealthy Goodwin family. They have trouble getting "daughter" Coleman to return home, so Mr. Massey suggests Garfield come along as in-house physician. Garfield thinks their mansion is beautiful, but Coleman says it's a "concentration camp." It's really too bad "Dangerously They Live" makes it clear who the bad guys are, because this picture had greater potential.Marion Parsonnet's story should have received a better treatment. It has a Hitchcockian sensibilities, but squanders much suspense potential. Imagine, for instance, a little re-writing and re-editing to make the moment Garfield receives the "Get the girl out of here - she is in grave danger" note the moment you KNOW, for sure, who is telling the truth. And, it would have been easy to adjust Garfield's "intern" character (and wardrobe) to more flatter the actor. He does as well as possible with the assignment, however. Robert Florey's direction, Coleman's debut performance, and Massey are impressive.******* Dangerously They Live (12/24/41) Robert Florey ~ John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey, Moroni Olsen

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.