On Dangerous Ground

I don't have much to say about Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino's On Dangerous Ground. What I do can be summarized in three comments.

1) There's a curious focus on the footprints in the snow of the killer Ryan and Ward Bond are pursuing. It isn't enough to simply show there are footprints, the camera lingers over them for some reason I can't discern. Is it to emphasize their prey is a human, but one being tracked like an animal? That he's not some sure-footed mountain man, but a person as much out of their depth as city cop Ryan is in the wilderness? Or maybe they thought audiences really needed to be reminded of how the killer was being tracked.

2) Ryan's character has a serious anger problem after 11 years on the force. He can't set aside all the ugliness he sees on the job, and it comes out in brutality, as he beats on potential source of information until his bladder ruptures. After a different loss of temper, his veteran partner slams him up against a wall and lays it out for him, His voice echoes strongly in the alley, which gives his words an extra resonance. However, because we're looking at him from essentially over Ryan's shoulder, it's as though he's yelling at us, but we're somewhere far away, like a deep cave, or the bottom of the ocean. That's how lost Ryan is to the anger.

3) I was really embarrassed by how long it took Ryan and Bond's characters to realize Lupino was sightless. I figured it out within 30 seconds, just by the lack of lights and the way she moved. it took those morons over 5 minutes. Bond can be excused, he's a distraught father, but Ryan's a cop. He ought to be more observant.