5 Steps to Danger
6.2 /10 1 Votes
Country United States | 6.2/10 Genre Crime, Drama, Romance Duration Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date May 10, 1957 Writer Henry S. Kesler (screenplay), Donald Hamilton (story), Turnley Walker (story), Donald Hamilton (novel) Cast (Ann Hemple Nicholson), (John Emmett), (Dr. Frederick Simmons), Richard Gaines (Dean William Brant), (Edward Manning Kirkpatrick aka Kirk), (Helen Bethke)Similar movies Bloody Moon , Mad Max: Fury Road , John Wick , Taken 3 , I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine , The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Tagline LASHED TOGETHER BY THE SAME SIN AND THE SAME SECRET! |
5 Steps to Danger is a 1957 American crime film directed, produced, and co–written by Henry S. Kesler. The film starred Ruth Roman and Sterling Hayden, with a cast that also included Werner Klemperer, Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, and Peter Hansen. 5 Steps to Danger was based on the novel The Steel Mirror by Donald Hamilton.
Contents

Plot

John Emmett, an American everyman, 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 and 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 isn't 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 manage to 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

Critical response

The New York Times review 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. The film has an original German art poster selling on Amazon as of May 13, 2017, for $150.00 plus shipping charges of $14.99.

References
5 Steps to Danger Wikipedia5 Steps to Danger IMDb 5 Steps to Danger themoviedb.org