Review of Jeopardy

While on a fishing trip in Mexico, a family man with wife and child gets his foot caught underneath a broken timber from a collapsed jetty; his wife goes for help (after busting the car-jack) and manages to get herself kidnapped by an escaped murderer on the lam! Barbara Stanwyck always prided herself on being a resourceful and reliable screen actress, so the ninny-spouse she plays here doesn't sit too well (husband Barry Sullivan tells her to keep a calm head, but by the next scene she's driving frantically all over the road). "Jeopardy", written by Mel Dinelli from a story by Maurice Zimm, is the kind of quickie 1950s back-end attraction used for double features; it has interesting locations and good cinematography, but was most likely an inexpensive way to use contract talent on a tight schedule. The actors are far better than the material, particularly Sullivan playing the most hapless husband in memory. **1/2 from ****