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Although I saw this on a very poor DVD transfer it held my attention from beginning to end. Yes, as other reviewers have pointed out, there's nothing new here, but it's expertly done, and it's interesting to know that there were apparently 20,000 deserters on the run in the UK in 1949, and one imagines that many of them were as hard-done-by as our hero, but I won't spoil anything by revealing why he deserted. The film is certainly sympathetic to those 20,000 men who get the blame, by several representative members of the cast, for everything that's wrong with post-war Britain. Derek Farr is excellent in the main role as the deserter who has to raise some money when Kenneth More, who had served in the same outfit, happens into the pub where he's working under an alias and decides to blackmail him. While he's trying to pawn a gun the pawnshop is robbed and a policeman killed making him one of the suspects. Joan Hopkins is the sympathetic woman who helps him. Edward Chapman is the inspector investigating the case with ever-increasing impatience. Laurence Harvey, although billed fourth, has little to do as a sergeant with a soft spot for Hopkins. Plenty of noir atmosphere. Recommended.

Most enjoyable and fast moving film from Lawrence Huntington in an amazingly crisp and clear Blu-ray print. Not incredibly original story as the title may suggest but the twist here is the background of some 20,000 deserters in the UK desperately trying to evade capture and survive on the fringe of society. Wonderful location shooting on the edge of Soho, Seven Dials and Mayfair plus some unbelievably effective set design and not forgetting the village of Corfe Castle at the start. When we shift to Wapping the pub interior is so authentic I am trying to work out just which one it is but its all done in the studio, fantastic job. Performances are fine, some of us groan when we see Kenneth More at the start, in one of his earlier films, but he is only a bit part as is Alfie Bass who we see for about two seconds. It is Derek Farr and Joan Hopkins who play the leads, perfectly adequately and more to the point convincingly and fortunatley a young Laurence Harvey doesn't have too much to do. A great watch and makes one wonder how many other gems there might be of this period.

Peter Burden (Derek Farr) is an army deserter, one of twenty thousand British men who live in fear of imprisonment even after the war has ended. Having served four years, the authorities denied his request for compassionate leave in order to attend his mother's deathbed and he absconded in disgust. He is now working as a landlord of a country pub and is pulling pints when an old army acquaintance (Kenneth More) walks in and recognizes him. Corporal Newman is newly demobbed and, having found only low-paid work in the area, opportunistically blackmails Burden. Terrified, Burden flees again, this time returning to London, where a lack of funds and the late rent on a ragged bedsit force him to try and pawn his old service revolver. At the jeweller's, however, two armed robbers arrive and promptly kill a copper, with Burdon believed to be part of the gang.

His attempts to elude the police become more perilous than ever and a desperate escape sees him bounding breathlessly into the house of young widow Jean Adams (Joan Hopkins). Jean takes pity on the ex-soldier and agrees to help. The pair become determined to find the robbers, knowing only that one of them (Edward Underdown) is missing two fingers on his left hand. All the while, they must avoid the grimly persistent Chief Inspector Mitchell (Edward Chapman) and Detective Sergeant Lawson (a young Laurence Harvey), who prove to be quite able pursuers...

Lawrence Huntington directed, produced and wrote this foray into near-noir which was presumably inspired by the many deserters still at large long after V. E. Day. His script carefully positions Burdon as a sympathetic figure (the name is well-chosen).

The sad circumstances surrounding his desertion and the fact he had spent most of the war in combat is repeated at least once. To steer clear from presenting him as a coward or a chancer was undoubtedly important as everyone in the audience would have known soldiers or might even have been one themselves. Huntington also has his protagonist plea for a more constructive solution to the problem, particularly when so many such people inevitably turn to crime to survive. This situation, often forgotten today, makes Man on the Run interesting and slightly more nuanced than other chase thrillers, though it so solidly sides with Burdon that a more minute exploration of similar issues facing other such soldiers - for example, post-traumatic stress or the frustrating futility of war itself - is avoided altogether. There's a sense that each man would have his own story, though nobody describes what those might be.

Derek Farr is excellent as Burdon: pained, thoughtful, and reluctant to enlist anyone else's help. It's a shame he didn't have more of a career as he could easily have become a Kenneth More. More himself pops up early on, well before his middle-class every-man persona, like an English James Stewart in tweeds and a pipe, would lead him to become one of Britain's biggest film stars.

The police investigation, meanwhile, is headed by the sort of dogged, pipe-smoking detective familiar to pictures of this period, with Chapman's chief inspector wry and astute enough to elicit tension.

It's this quietly humming, will-they-catch-him? Element which carries the film, particularly in the excellent first half, though a thrilling set-piece of the sort included in The 39 Steps (which also had a bad guy deprived of a digit) or North By Northwest is unfortunately even more elusive than Burdon himself.

Particularly interesting for its glimpses of post-war life (from genuine London locations to a reference to radio's proto-James Bond Dick Barton), plus some gently amusing moments, Man on the Run makes for an entertaining and compelling thriller which is much recommended.

Derek Farr deserted from the British Army after four years of service and went underground. Now he is at the end of his rope, so he takes his service revolver to a pawn shop.... to pawn it. While he's standing there, two other men enter, knock out the owner and flee, killing a bobby as they go. Now Farr is really being pursued and he randomly stops Joan Hopkins... who agrees to help him.

There are definite noir elements in this movie, with discussion the estimated 20,000 deserters and some grimy cinematography by DP Wilkie Cooper, but that's about the limits of it. Otherwise, writer-director Lawrence Huntington has turned out a reasonably taut man-accused movie. Despite a decent story, the movie itself is curiously inert, with a lot of talk and not much movement.

Farr is clearly not wearing his hairpiece for this movie, an odd choice for a romantic lead type, but that, I suppose, it part of the noir aspect of it. Watch out for Laurence Harvey in his second screen appearance, playing a detective. He's only mildly creepy in this one.

An astringent little drama painting a vivid picture as shot by Wilkie Cooper of a seething postwar London rife with deserters, blackmailers and other lowlifes.

Top-billed Joan Hopkins is rather stiff as the heroine, but this actually renders her more more rather than less appealing - not being conventional leading lady material - and as usual the supporting case is full of entertaining surprises, including early appearances by Kenneth More and a moustached Laurence Harvey in only his second film role as a detective.

"Man on the Run" is interesting for several reasons.

One is the postwar atmosphere in England and the problem they had with deserters, many of whom were on the run and resorting to crime. Here in the U. S., 21,000 people were charged and sentenced for desertion during World War II - 49 were sentenced to death, but only one sentence was carried out.

Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out.

The main character in this is Peter Burden (Derek Farrar). After four years in the service, he needed extra time on his leave because his sister was dying. He was refused and stayed with her anyway.

Peter is in hiding when approached by someone who knew him, a Corp. Newman (Kenneth More, in a small part). Newman wants blackmail money; instead, Peter takes off.

When Peter tries to pawn his gun, the pawnshop is robbed at the same time by two men. The police think it's three. He is being chased through the streets when he runs into an apartment building. There he meets a widow, Jean Adams (Joan Hopkins) who agrees to help him. She hides him and lets him stay at her place.

Peter knows certain distinguishing features of one of the men and feels if he could just find him, the police would learn of his innocence. By a series of circumstances, the police zero in on Jean, so she and Peter take off to a friend's place out of London.

The chase continues, and it's Jean who actually sees someone in a cafe that she thinks is one of the robbers.

Too many coincidences in the story, but the actors are likeable, and you do pull for both of them.

Not only did More appear, but all during the film, I kept thinking one of the police detectives looked like Laurence Harvey. That's probably because it was Laurence Harvey.

What you will remember of this film is the local atmosphere from the post war London with its rather weary aspect both in people and their minds and the shaggy streets, ultimately leading you down to old Wapping with one of the most genuine pub atmospheres found in any film, but there is a long way to go before that.

You will also remember the difficult case of 20,000 deserters after the war, many of them turning to criminality for having no other choice. That's the clinch in which our hero finds himself, when a burglary takes place the moment he is trying to pawn his old gun without bullets, the two robbers in desperation shooting both the clerk and, when on the run, a policeman fatally - the first casualty in the film. The clerk recovers and gives a description of our hero, whom he saw, while the two burglars were masked. So our hero finds himself wanted for murder. Could you get into any deeper sea of trouble?

It's also memorable for the fine performance by Joan Hopkins, who plays a widow who believes in our hero's innocence, Kenneth More has a small part in the beginning, which turns out fatal for our hero on a constant run, and Laurence Harvey is a policeman - neither is sympathetic. Derek Farr plays our hero convincingly enough, a completely ordinary man with an inordinate amount of bad luck, having lost practically all his family in the war. It's a sad story but well made, and the beautiful music adds some extra romantic and melancholy charm to it. In spite of the poor technical quality, I must give it almost a full score for its interesting story of an eloquent script, fluent tempo and excellent cinematography.

The blu ray cover says this is a key post war British noir unseen since the first release. I don't think it is a key film compared to It Always Rains On Sunday or The Blue Lamp. I like the film,it looks good. The pub sets look great,I want to eat in that cafe,is it Fitzrovia maybe? But the tone of the film is stiff and dated compared to Waterloo Road or It Always Rains on Sunday. Don't get me wrong,it is not a bad film but it is not daring compared with It Always Rain. Indeed They Made Me A Fugitive is similar in theme to this and a better film in my opinion.

This is the one and only movie I saw (and I saw many) tackling the theme of deserters. Main character Peter is one of them, a guy who used to be a good soldier but felt compelled to run AWOL after four years of war because his father died in a raid and his mother and sister needed his presence.

Peter is working as a bartender in a remote corner of England when an ex-comrade happens to pass by and tries to blackmail him. Peter moves to London, where life is difficult and expensive, and while trying to pawn his weapon he gets involved in an attempted robbery. He's only a witness but the police are chasing him.

Attractive widow Jean comes to his help and the plot develops nicely, albeit in a slightly forced way towards a suitable ending. The interesting part is the perspective of deserters, considered both from a negative and less negative point of view and just for that, the movie deserves some extra points.

The great shame of unused female actors in British cinema is far too long; Joan Greenwood was an example, and rarely given roles that were truly worthy of her. Joan Hopkins is another and even less well known than Greenwood or many others. A pity because she had a statuesque beauty, and a quiet charm and in some shots her beauty almost rivals Greta Garbo. Opposite Derek Farr there is good chemistry, and for once she is pivotal to the film and not only decoration. Farr is a deserter from WW2 and on the run not only for that, but for a murder he is suspected of committing. Hopkins takes him into her flat and the two fall in love. I liked too the atmosphere of the UK after the war, with its turmoil at getting back to a previous life that will never come again. A fluctuating chaos that lasted through the late 1940's and the mid to late 1950's. The film is rich on detail, and there is Kenneth More as a war veteran in a small but significant role. Well directed,, and in the main well acted, it is worthy of hunting down for all those interested in this period of history, and the run down houses peeling with damp and cold bear no resemblance to the wealth there today. These films are essential to UK history and the passing of times, and the poverty and wealth that goes with it. And Joan Hopkins is quite simply excellent.

This is an excellent drama, with a complex story and a good script, well directed by Lawrence Huntington. It stars Derek Farr as a deserter from the Army who is hoping not to be discovered, and works as a publican under the false name of Peter Brown (his real name being Peter Burden). His pub is in a fishing village on the Cornish coast. But by bizarre coincidence, a former corporal from his regiment turns up for a beer, played by Kenneth More. He is hard up and lets Farr know that he won't report him if he gives him some money and pays him monthly after that. Farr cannot afford it, so he flees to London. As he cannot pay the rent on his attic flat in London, he takes the only thing of value which he has with him to sell, namely a .32 Enfield service revolver. Just as he is holding it to show to the shop owner, two masked men burst in and rob the shop, knocking out the proprietor. A policeman chases them and they shoot him dead. Farr is then caught up in the crime, since the proprietor assumes he was a third gunman of the robbery. But this is only the beginning of the complications. The police are on the case, with Edward Chapman, with his authoritative air, playing a Chief Inspector, and the young Lawrence Harvey as his detective sergeant. This was only Harvey's second film, but he already seems assured and does an excellent job. As the tense story progresses, Farr finds himself being chased by a policeman in Soho and dashes into an open door which is just closing. He shuts the door and puts his band over the mouth of a young woman so she won't scream, apologizing all the while for his rudeness. This is Joan Hopkins, an excellent actress who retired from the screen in the fifties after only a handful of films. She is just right for the part and has a strong screen presence. One thing leads to another and another and another and another. The story turns endless corners, and there is always a new threat. Farr and Hopkins find they cannot part yet because of the area being under observation, and her flat has already been searched once. Hopkins is a widow, her husband having been killed as an airman in the War. She comes to realize that Farr is not a baddie, and they slowly come closer and closer together in the typically restrained way of English people at that time (just recall Celia Johnson). But trouble keeps happening. Farr remembers that one of the real robbers had the tops of his two middle fingers missing. That is their only clue as to what really happened. It seems hopeless. Britain is full of wartime deserters, in fact 20,000 of them. Farr himself had a sad story to excuse his desertion. He and Hopkins flee to another distant coastal town, but they have to flee from there. Harried and hunted, and now bonded together, they struggle to evade the police. But the story goes on getting more complicated still. The reviewer's Code of Honour forbids me to tell more about the twists and turns that ensue. And certainly, the ending cannot even be hinted at. (Nor, frankly, can the resolution even be guessed.) The film is really directed superbly by Huntington, who three years earlier had directed NIGHT BOAT TO DUBLIN (1946, see my review). There were so many British movies of this period which are worthwhile, and one must hope that somehow people will continue to watch them.