Amor que vuelve

WOMAN ON THE RUN is an infinitely better and more rewarding movie experience now than when it was released in 1950. Saw it back then when I was a child and the only thing I remembered was the terrifically-exciting roller coaster sequence. Seeing it again on DVD makes me appreciate everything about it, a film noir classic. To make such a no-nonsense, concise and plausible crime thriller with a sensational finale today certainly seems to be asking for the impossible. Ann Sheridan, of a certain age, never sexier and looking like a million dollars, dominates the screen, as usual. She can do anything, but overact. She's the real thing. Scenes in this movie bear comparison to Orson Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL and Alfred Hitchcock'S STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. This is a gem - hard-boiled, splendidly-acted, written and photographed.

This neat little thriller from 1950 is all the more interesting since Ann Sheridan is the woman in the title. Miss Sheridan is most convincing as she searches for her husband who witnessed a gangland murder and must find him before the underworld does. There are many tense moments along the way especially when she ends up riding on a roller coaster. Good support from Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith and Ross Elliott plus a good screenplay help this film rise above B status.

Woman on the Run has some wonderful scenes. Ann Sheridan plays a disenchanted wife whose husband was a witness to a gangland killing (while walking his little dog). Realising that he is in great danger the man goes into hiding (without the dog). Right from the beginning the noirish drama is mixed with hilarious humor. The police officers who come to the Sheridan character's house after the incident are cheeky and mean to the extreme. The woman who for some reason is treated like a suspect even has to open all her kitchen cupboards (I won't tell you what's in it, it's very telling and absolutely funny). Many aspects of the script do not stand up to logic. But, well, it is "only a movie" and therefore it does not matter at all – quite on the contrary in fact.

Alfred Hitchcock must have run this one in his screening room more than once. The finale in a funfair has a strong resemblance with the one in his Strangers on a Train, released one year later. It has an astonishingly well done nightly rollercoaster scene. Furthermore there is some very good location shooting on the streets of San Francisco. I can highly recommend this well fotographed and directed movie with good performances, especially by Ann Sheridan.

Norman Foster did a fine job of directing Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe in "Woman on the Run," a 1950 film, somewhat low budget. Sheridan by this time was around 34 years old, and the cutoff for women in those days was 30. Soon she would be turning to television.

In the story, Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is out walking his dog Rembrandt when he witnesses a gangland hit. He goes on the run as the police desperately look for him, since he's their sole witness.

They question his wife Eleanor (Sheridan) who has no idea where he is, and, since the marriage is on the rocks, she thinks he wants to get away from her as well. The police, headed by an Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), starts following her, and she is bothered by a newspaperman, Danny (O'Keefe). She throws her hat in with him and the two work together to find Frank.

Frank has left Eleanor some clues, and it's in those clues that Eleanor realizes one thing - Frank loves her, and if she can find him, she will try to make the marriage work.

Very good noir, with the earthy Sheridan in fine form, with her dry delivery. O'Keefe was always a solid leading man, and he does a good job here. Always nice to see Victor Sen Yung, and you will recognize many television people who are in the film.

Eleanor and Danny go all over San Francisco, which is fun to see in its post-war state. And the roller-coaster scenes are fabulous and tense.

Good movie; see it if you can.

Lots of imaginative touches in this suspenseful noir. Catch the midget in the phone booth, the mannequins from heck, or the camera that pulls away from the climax. Director Foster sure didn't treat this as just another programmer. For that matter, neither did the producers who popped for atmospheric San Francisco locations plus an A-list cast. All in all, there would appear to be a backstory to this unusual production.

So who's going to help poor Sheridan now that a killer is searching for her estranged husband. Not the cops, since Keith is too ornery to sense her need. But then she comes across as a pretty tough cookie (as only Sheridan can) herself. And what about reporter O"Keefe. Is he really a help or just in it for himself. At first I thought the plot was a whodunit, but then it turns into a moody nail-biter, along the lines of urban classic DOA (1950). And what about those great SF locations that lend genuine atmosphere. Cameraman Hal Mohr does an expert job complementing the story with many of SF's exotic settings. In fact, the acting and production values manage to keep attention away from plot developments that at times are a stretch.

I guess my only real reservation is with the camera pull-away at the climax. It's imaginative and heightens suspense, but also dilutes the outcome that we never get to see. Still, however you take that, the movie itself remains an exotic slice of b&w, and a tribute especially to its director and cameraman.

(In passing-- why the title 'Woman' On The Run when it seems it's really a man.)