Atormentada

In this detective story, a private eye must send his fiancee to prison as he truly believes that she was involved in a bank robbery. Unfortunately, she is innocent. Still she serves her time. Upon her release someone frames her for murder. The detective is in quite a quandary until the real criminal is found. The woman finally returns to her beloved private eye. More romantic melodrama than 'noir' 'The Hunted' still shines as 'Belita ' the "Ice Queen" who was in the 1936 Olympic games as a figure skater for England ; serves up a great cat and mouse performance as Laura Mead . B-film crime story ably directed by Jack Bernhard. The Hunted is lit on 'noir' but is still a great Crime, Drama and Film-Noir in the end . Highly entertaining .

Towards the end, you get the idea this was on a deadline and / or budget cap expecting, but good little movie carried by good performances by all cast members. A real effort put in by each actor to not ham it up nor plod through the lines. It's film, we won't know for days what was in the can! Pretty solid in that respect, and no great stunts, just a story line to push it along. This movie could be done in a modern setting and fill in the holes, but I'm not sure Hollywood has the discipline to keep all characters humble and sublime. It would really need to be done with obscure but top flight actors to pull it off. Belita's character would be more realistic if she's not an ice skating star on probation. That was a bit silly, but you read about Belita, that's probably the driver that got this film made in the first place. But probably a sales clerk in a jewelry store profession would match the script a bit more realistically. The heist she was accused of isn't so well explained at the beginning nor at the end, where the audience is tasked to read a newspaper headline to tie everything together (not going to spoil it, but you can't be looking away from screen for a split second!). It's definitely worth the watch, and an interesting piece of period magic. Did anyone look up Belita's actual bio? I got the impression she was probably an actual resistance operative of some type(?); Born in England, trained for ballet in Russia, performed in skating & ballet in France, actress & skater in USA...all of this during WWII era?! That's really her skating in this movie, so obviously that was the money driver and how it got added hamfisted into the script that would do better without any tinges of glamour. It doesn't fit for ideal movie result, but in historical sense, Belita such a very interesting woman with immense talent. How does that international background not come out in her lines at all with any accent? How could she have such stellar talents on the ice and be such a committed actress? I find it interesting she competed in 1936 Olympics. Traveling itself was dicey stuff her entire young professional career, and this comes out as European friction is still high in post WWII reparations and fragile political climate. Really great movie in the context of the times.

Internet Rule 34 says if there's a subject on the Web, there's porn about it. Maybe we need something like that for Film Noir: if it exists in the movies, there's a Film Noir about it. I suppose that's why this one has Belita as a femme fatale who does ice dancing routines.

Four years ago, cop Preston Foster arrested his girlfriend Belita for a jewelry robbery. Now she's out on parole, and he's gotten her a job at a hockey rink, teaching and performing. She says she was framed. He yearns for her and drinks. Eventually they reconcile, but then the defense attorney she claims threw her case is murdered.... and Belita's ring is found at the murder site.

Foster was at the end of his starring days. He was in his late 40s, and had been mature-looking when he entered the movies in the early days of sound. Fortunately, his solid presence would keep him working in star character roles. Belita is all right, but awkward off the ice. Longtime B cinematographer Harry Neumann (more than 300 films from 1918 through 1959) offers a lot of night-time shots, particularly a carnival midway sequence, for shadowy film noir lighting.

It's not a great movie -- Monogram didn't distribute those -- but it is a solid film noir for fans of the genre.

One of those very good, but forgotten film-noirs, it's a relatively strong story, of a girl who spent 4 years in prison for a crime she may or may not have done, and a cop who loved her and turned her in. It has good, tight execution and it's a film for film-lovers. The female lead is excellent in her portrayal, and it's too bad she only got used in several films, mostly for her skating and dancing abilities; and you should keep an eye out for the name of Jack Bernhard, the director, as he has other great noirs, such as The Decoy.

This is a film that manages to keep the viewer's interest through well- conceived plot twists and a well-played romantic relationship between the two lead characters. Preston Foster is believable as a tough cop with a hard-nosed exterior who has a complicated emotional entanglement with an enigmatic and dangerous woman. Foster does a great job in the role.

A now rather obscure actress named Belita gives a studied and endearing performance as the ex-con blonde noir babe who maybe does or does not love the cop. She manages to convey a vulnerable yet dangerous persona that is not easy to maintain for an entire film length but she pulls off this feat with remarkable consistency and aplomb. The multi-talented Belita also gives us a fine and professionally done figure skating routine wherein her rather tall, lean and graceful style reminds me of the great Olympian Peggy Fleming. And its good to see noir icon Charles McGraw in a supporting role.

I found "The Hunted" to be a rewarding blend of constant emotional tension between the characters and plot tension related to the twists and turns of its basic noir story line. View it if you get the chance.