Hombre en fuga

Rex Harrison was primarily a stage actor and indeed a first rate one. His films however are very much a mixed bag but he had a very good working relationship with director Joseph L. Mankiewicz for whom he gave excellent performances. This is the second of their four films together, following on from 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.'

Harrison is not the first to play the character of former RAF pilot Matt Denant who has escaped from prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder. Notable among previous personifications were Leslie Howard on Broadway, Orson Welles on Radio and Gerald du Maurier in a typically stodgy British film from 1930.

Harrison's polished persona perfectly suits playwright John Galsworthy's concept that a gentleman never ceases to be a gentleman even when he's down. Whilst on the run he is aided by the free-spirited Nora of Peggy Cummins who is herself wanting to escape a life of poverty by marrying a man she does not love. Romance blossoms of course and when Denant finishes his sentence he will very likely marry her, thereby exchanging one kind of servitude for another!

Good support here from a cast of stalwarts, notably William Hartnell as a kind hearted policeman, a wonderfully twitchy Cyril Cusack as a man who cannot back a winner and Norman Wooland as a parson who persuades Denant to do the right thing.

Although the weakest of their four collaborations, with Mankiewicz at the helm there are some effective moments whilst having Freddie Young behind the camera and William Alwyn as composer can only constitute a plus.

This film is also an interesting piece of social history as Galsworthy had a strong belief in English justice and the class system, both of which have since taken a hell of a battering!

A dark story of injustice, charting the hopelessness of a fugitive not from justice but from the law, which has failed in giving justice. Rex Harrison is a former war hero who defends a defenseless girl in a park and accidentally gets into more trouble than he bargained for, with fatal consequences, for a villain who deserved it, and for himself, who has to survive it. It's a great story by John Galsworthy with many instructive insights on the way. It's kind of an exploration of the problems of injustice. Anyway, risking his life and prolonged sentence by escaping, he does win something on the way, which he wouldn't if he hadn't risked everything for freedom.

Joseph Mankiewicz' direction displays all the literary deserts of the story and communicates it well with clarity and detached poignancy. It's a small film but the greater for its spartan concentration, containing much more than what any film can show.

Rex Harrison is walking in the park after a losing day at the track. He falls into conversation with a young woman sitting on a bench. She hands him a card for her business and Harrison begins to walk off, when a police detective comes up to arrest her for solicitation. Harrison protests. The detective tells him to scarper off. Harrison protests some more and the 'tec takes a swing at him. They tussle and the policeman splatters his head on the bench's ironmongery.

Found guilty of manslaughter, Harrison is sent to Dartmoor. He escapes, is pursued by the police in the form of Inspector William Hartnell, and succored by Peggy Cummins.

It's a remake of the 1930 movie that was the first production of what became Ealing Studios, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, with John Galsworthy's original script updated by Philip Dunne -- lots more sexual tension between Harrison and Cummins than in the original script. It's certainly a competent remake, and purists will be pleased that the outdoor scenes were shot in Dartmoor; the original used Northamptonshire. Yet I am always confronted by the question of how it is that it's always the good-looking people who are morally superior, and who are believed to be honest. Frederick Piper, who plays the convict to whom Harrison confides his intention to escape.... had he been the one who did so, would Miss Cummins have helped him?

The acting of the main characters - Harrison, Cummins and Hartnell - are convincing but generally lack a great deal of passion. Everyone behaves pretty much as one would expect. There are many twists and turns in the plot but these are often fairly predictable; one is rarely surprised. The settings - prison, village, moor, country cottage, are just what they're supposed to be, no more, no less. The dialogue is convincing, and also just what you might expect. There is variety of tone and many moments of humour, darker points, philosophical themes regarding justice, honour and life. Generally, the film takes its time making its points, just so you don't miss them. So it rolls along in an amiable manner and is enjoyable to watch; however, it does lack some of the sparkle of the 1930 version.

In the 1940s British country police were often portrayed in the visual media as slow & witless and "Escape"(1948) is no exception, what we in Britain called "Plod".They were portrayed as "yokels" working for underfunded constabularies by central government, when local police could only give chase on bicycles to criminals driving stolen cars.They made illogical assumptions that a man & woman in a vehicle "must be Americans" without checking the facts.The heroine Peggy Cummings' character comes over as too naive and too ready to believe Rex Harrison's (RH) story even suggesting to her sister they should let him use their car to escape!There is a pathetic shot of RH trying to fly off in a monoplane which then crashes and which only causes RH a sprained shoulder!In one scene he causes criminal damage by setting the monoplane alight.In another scene RH compounds the offence by assaulting George Woodbridge (who plays an armed farmer) as he attempts to evade justice.

However, we viewers do have some sympathy for RH's character for being found guilty of manslaughter and being sentenced to 3 years in Dartmoor prison.Towards the end of his escape he tries to obtain medieval sanctuary meeting Derick de Marney who plays a priest (and who played a similar role as RH in Hitchcocks 1933 "Young & Innocent).Derick proceeds to talk theology and philosophy to RH in the hope RH will surrender to the police.Peggy Cummings enters the church having previously unbidden told RH of her love & belief in him.With the police threatening to obtain a search warrant and before the priest can comment on RH's whereabouts, RH volunteers to surrender to law & order and is promptly driven back to Dartmoor, presumably to finish his sentence with I presume greater length added for all his further misdemeanors committed.The producers therefore leave moral questions in the air, just posing them.My rating just 6/10