Woman on the Run
Directed by Norman Foster
Written by Alan Campbell and Norman Foster; original story by Sylvia Tate
1950/USA
Fidelity Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video
[box] Eleanor Johnson: [In the dark shadows of roller coaster on the deserted beach at night] I don’t like this place.
Danny Leggett: It’s a good spot. I used to come here with my girl when I was a kid. It’s more frightening than romantic. It’s the way love is when you’re young… life is when you’re older.[/box]
This is a fairly routine programmer with a few thrills at the end. We also get some nice location shots of 1950 San Francisco.
Frank Johnson is walking his dog when he witnesses a gangland shooting. For some never explained reason, he slips away while being interviewed by the police. Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith) is irked and goes to fetch Frank’s wife Eleanor (Ann Sheridan). She acts as if she couldn’t care less that her husband might become the target of the killers and is able to offer very little information about him. During the night she escapes her well-guarded apartment with the help of reporter Dan Leggett (Dennis O’Keefe).
Dan is Eleanor’s constant companion as she searches San Francisco for her husband who needs his heart medicine. During the search, she finds out a lot of things about Frank that she didn’t know, including that he might actually love her. Inspector Ferris is on her trail throughout. As she gets closer to finding her husband, Eleanor faces trouble from more than the cops.
I watched this one over a couple of days on my iPad, not perhaps adequate for a fair appraisal for this relatively highly rated movie (7.3/10 on IMDb), This is more of a woman’s picture/thriller than it is a film noir. Even the final roller coaster scene did not lift it far above average for me. The performances are all fine.
I couldn’t find a decent clip. The complete movie is also currently available on YouTube. This is another one that was recently restored but is still awaiting a home video version of the new print.
