A Lonely Soul

Some actors are born with the effortless charisma of likability, others embody the complicated turmoil of good and evil. Appearing opposite such stars as Gable, Tracy, and Stewart, Robert Ryan forged an incomparable body of work as the dark cinematic counterpart to these stalwart heroes. Today he is most remembered for supporting roles in two of his last films, The Dirty Dozen (1967) , and The Wild Bunch (1969), but Ryan's important cinematic legacy began more than twenty years earlier with an incendiary performance as a violent racist in Crossfire (1947), and ended soon after his glorious portrayal of Larry Slade in The Iceman Cometh (1973), which he made while dying of cancer. It was a career mandated by his tall hunched physique, and handsome saturnine Irish looks. A dissatisfied mouth reflected the desolation and anger lingering near the surface of his most memorable characters. His vicious outbursts could be terrifying yet vulnerable, a dichotomy that often left him isolated in the company of men and a tragically romantic figure for women. In almost every role he played, his demons are held barely in check, brimming behind the eyes of an actor whose powerful screen presence and subtle craft were mostly taken for granted by an audience with stars in their eyes. The films listed below are superb examples of Robert Ryan's unique contribution to cinema.

Caught (1949)

Robert Ryan was never the typical leading man but achieved recognition the way many actors do, playing colourful villains.Having burned a hole in the screen as the Jew-baiting murderer in Edward Dmytryk's Crossfire, Ryan embarked on a string of memorable noir miscreants, of which Smith Ohlrig, the threatening millionaire of Caught, is one of his most complex. Modeled after eccentric entrepreneur Howard Hughes, Ryan's studio boss at RKO, Ohlrig is a Freudian mess of dangerous paranoia that entraps his young wife played by Barbara Bel Geddes in a spiraling nightmare of emotional abuse. One of the few Hollywood efforts directed by French auteur Max Ophuls, the film's suffocating atmosphere of psychological delirium made this a landmark in Ryan's career propelling him into the pantheon of demented villainy. A scarce title due to copyright issues, and only available on VHS, it will hopefully make a much deserved appearance in the digital realm.

On Dangerous Ground (1952)

Produced by John Houseman, this is Ryan's most emblematic film noir, a genre he dominated with towering menace. Starring as a self-loathing burnt out cop, Ryan delivers a crowning performance of embittered failure, garnished with a streak of sadism only he could milk for its self-revealing tragedy. Directed by Nicholas Ray, a specialist in stories about the plight of society's outsiders, the film uses a rural manhunt plot to uncover the humanity of its characters, most heartbreakingly in the tentative relationship between the two solitary souls of Ida Lupino's blind spinster, and Ryan's depressed bachelor.With its striking snowbound locations, and dynamic score by Hitchcock favourite Bernard Herrmann, this noir masterpiece remains a suspenseful and poetic meditation on both the physical and emotional effects of loneliness. The DVD includes an insightful commentary by film historian Glenn Erickson.

Men In War (1957)

After his contract with RKO expired in 1956, a middle-aged Ryan was finally free to chose the kind of varied roles that he had sought for most of his working life. These films would often reflect his private passion for liberal humanitarian causes, and the first of these projects is representative of this independent spirit. Men In War, is a stark and harrowing depiction of a battle-scarred platoon trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War. Ryan stars as the sensitive but courageous commanding officer who must drag his traumatized and fatigued soldiers through mine and sniper infested territory to the seemingly safe ground that awaits them miles away. Playing one of his most sympathetic characters Ryan ably communicates the weariness and fear that all in combat must face, thereby providing the film with a human core to the imagery of sudden and senseless carnage. Director Anthony Mann, excelled at staging battles of various eras, but here he opts for intimacy over panorama. This is an austere picture of war and the gut-wrenching horror of death hovers over every scene. Ryan would successfully re-unite with Mann the following year on a controversial adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's bawdy Georgia-set novel God's Little Acre. Ryan's role in that film as an obsessed treasure-hunting dirt farmer demonstrated his broad acting range, playing a mad dreamer, as opposed to the sober military authority figure from their previous collaboration. Both films are available on DVD from Geneon Entertainment in no-frills editions featuring immaculate, uncensored black and white prints.