THE MAN WHO DARED (Warner Brothers, 1939), directed by Crane Wilbur, is a minor second feature production previously produced by the studio as STAR WITNESS (1931) starring Walter Huston, Charles "Chic" Sale and Sally Blane. Sometimes labeled under another title, I AM NOT AFRAID, THE MAN WHO DARED (bearing no relation to the 1933 Fox Film of the same name starring Preston Foster) is another studio theme dealing with sole witnesses to a crime who become threatened when summoned to court to expose those responsible. While the 1931 original dealt with gangsters as the threatening source, this latest edition uses a corrupt politician and his henchmen this time around.
With the opening sequences exposing newspaper headlines regarding "Mayor accused of civil league launches probe" and "Scandal in City Hall," the story gets underway with Stuart McCrary (Emmett Vogan) to testify before the grand jury against the corrupt Mayor Lawson (Charles Richman). As Lawson's men sneak into the garage to place a bomb inside McCrary's car, McCrary, discovering dictaphone and wires up his chimney indicating bugged telephone conversations, heads out to the district attorney with the news, taking his wife (Grace Stafford), afraid of being left home alone, along with him. At the same time, the Carter family, gathered together for a peaceful dinner, having witnessed men inside the dark garage with flashlight next door, to find their meal interrupted by a sudden explosion. The Carters come face to face with Nick Bartel (John Gallaudet) inside their home, posing as a police officer, to be fingered as one of the three men who have set the bomb, killing the McCrary's. For this, the Carters are threatened to keep silent about the incident. The Carter family, consisting of the hardworking bookkeeper, Matthew (Henry O'Neill), his wife, Jessie (Elisabeth Risdon); their children, Madge (Jane Bryan), Ralph (Jimmy McCallion), Billy (Dickie Jones), Teddy Roosevelt (John Russell), along with Matthew's feisty old father, Ulysses Porterfield (Charley Grapewin), a Spanish Civil War veteran visiting from a veterans home, do their civic duty by exposing Bartel's photo to the district attorney as the man who threatened them. Because they are eye witnesses, the Carters are given police protection until the court hearing. After Matthew is abducted to an abandoned warehouse where he is bribed, brutally beaten and returned home after midnight in an injured state, and later the kidnapping of one of their sons on his way to a football game, do the Carters refuse to testify, except for Grandpa, whose self respect is testify, but how to go about becomes the problem.
Although Warner Brothers stock player, Jane Bryan, heads the cast, she has very little to do compare to Charley Grapewin, who is very much the leading player in a role that starts off as comedy relief before becoming a straightforward performance. Not as violent as STAR WITNESS, there are some uneasy moments here pertaining to the brutality that could make the movie uneasy viewing for some. Others in the cast as Boyd Irwin, Don Douglas and Norman Willis. At 59 minutes, the movie could have offered a few extra minutes resulting to a more satisfactory finish.
Not as well known to STAR WITNESS due to its frequent broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies cable channel, THE MAN WHO DARED is swiftly paced even with certain scenes not ringing true to make this all believably acceptable. For better Jane Bryan movies where she is seen to better advantage, simply check out other movies where she co-stars opposite legendary performers as Bette Davis, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and especially Paul Muni in the rarely revived WE ARE NOT ALONE (1939), often hailed as her finest movie performance. (**)
