5 Steps to Danger ***½ (1956, Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer, Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, Peter Hansen) – Classic Movie Review 11,537

The 1956 American film noir crime movie Five Steps to Danger is a fascinating Cold War thriller with involving star performances by Sterling Hayden and Ruth Roman, as a man’s car trip turns into a spy drama after he accepts a ride from a stranger.

The 1956 American black and white film noir crime movie Five Steps to Danger is an interesting Cold War thriller with brisk, sometimes imaginative handling from writer-producer-director Henry S Kesler and involving star performances by the underrated Sterling Hayden and Ruth Roman, plus some strong character acting.

John Emmett (Sterling Hayden) is on a fishing and hunting trip when his car breaks down, and he is offered a ride by a stranger called Ann Nicholson (Ruth Roman), who is driving to Santa Fe in New Mexico. 

At a diner, a woman calling herself a nurse tells Emmett she has been following them because Ann is an escaped mental patient of a Dr Frederick Simmons. Werner Klemperer plays Dr Frederick Simmons, a spy who has sent Ann to a mental home to stop her delivering the secret code on her small cosmetic mirror to the allies. 

Can John Emmett, whom Ann asks him to take turns behind the wheel after she has picked him up on the road, help her to escape communist spies and the FBI to get the secrets to nuclear scientists in New Mexico?

Also notable in the cast are Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, John Mitchum, John Merrick, Peter Hansen, and Jeanne Cooper.

5 Steps to Danger is based on Donald Hamilton’s 1948 Saturday Evening Post story and novel The Steel Mirror.

Werner Klemperer is conductor Otto Klemperer’s son.

The cast are Ruth Roman as Ann Nicholson, Sterling Hayden as John Emmett, Werner Klemperer as Dr Simmons, Richard Gaines as Dean Brant, Charles Davis as Kirk, Jeanne Cooper as Helen Bethke, Peter Hansen as Karl Plesser, Karl Ludwig Lindt [Karl Lindt] as Kissel, John Mitchum as Deputy, John Frederick [John Merrick] as Sheriff, and Ken Curtis as Agent Jim Anderson.

Five Steps to Danger is directed by Henry S Kesler, runs 80 minutes, is made by Henry S Kesler Productions and Grand Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Henry S Kesler, is shot in black and white by Kenneth Peach, is produced by Henry S Kesler. and is scored by Paul Sawtell

Ruth Roman (born Norma Roman; December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999) is remembered for the Western film Harmony Trail (1944), the serial film Jungle Queen (1945), the title role of Belle Starr’s Daughter (1948), The Window (1949), Champion (1949) and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Strangers on a Train (1951). She was foisted on Hitchcock as a Warner Bros contract player, and he didn’t want her, but ironically it is the film she is best remembered for.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,537

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Ruth Roman (December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999).