Where Danger Lives

The film opens up with Robert Mitchum's character as a doctor Jeff Cameron, working in a children's ward. His girlfriend Julie works there as a nurse, she's played by Maureen O'Sullivan. He's about to end a long shift when he's called in to help an emergency situation of treating a woman who may be a suicide attempt. The injured woman we find out is Margo, played by Faith Domergue. The doctor helps her recover, but the next day she's mysteriously checked out of the hospital, but sent a telegraph to him saying to meet him later at some location for an explanation. So later, he shows up at a swanky address, greeted by a butler, and goes inside to meet with Margo, who is all dressed up gorgeously. And almost right away, we can see there's some kind of romance starting. Well, later Dr. Jeff meets with Margo at a club and they exchange a kiss and clearly they've fallen for one another, but Margo tells him that she needs to leave town with her older father, so Jeff, slightly drunken on Polynesian cocktails, goes off to confront his potential father-in-law Frederick Lannington (played by Claude Rains). Lannington is all cool about meeting him and invites him back for a drink. But soon there's a big bombshell reveal: Margo is not his daughter, but his wife! Jeff starts to leave, but he rushes back when he hears a scream. Lannington has apparently ripped out her earring. There's a scuffle, and Lannington goes berserk and starts smacking Jeff with a fireplace poker Jeff overpowers him and strikes him down then staggers out. When he returns he finds Lannington dead. So he and Margo are on the run, with Jeff still somewhat out of it, both from being semi-drunken and from being struck on the head. They head into town the next day and sell off their car to Honest Hal, in a brief role with character actor Tol Avery. Jeff swaps the car for an old truck and they are on the move. On the way through a small town they run head first into another car, one driven by a drunken old guy, and they both have to speak with the sheriff, but the doctor lets them go. He's concerned with Jeff's health, but lets them leave, as long as she drives. They stop at a drug store in Arizona, they are taken to the sheriff, but only because Jeff is not wearing a beard, as the town is celebrating "Wild West Whiskers Week." And to make things even weirder, when they mention that they are headed off to get married, the locals abruptly have a shotgun wedding for them, sort of and against their will, in a hasty service by the police chief, actor Charles Kemper. Later that night they're in a hotel room and poor Jeff still has the headache and, while in the washroom, Margo happens to turn on the radio where we find a clue in a report that she's been under psychiatric care for mental illness. And sure enough, as he comes out of the bathroom, she starts to go full-blown crazy, yelling at him and so on. Jeff is also starting to experiencing paralysis in his left side. While in town, they pawn some jewelry for $1000, but the pawn broker pretty much has them made and he and the theater owner, working together as sort of the local crime outfit, arrange that, for $1000, they can get them both across the Mexican border. As the police converge Jeff has to make the decision of staying with Margo in flight or going to the authorities.