L'evadé de Dartmoor

Peggy Cummins (92 at this writing) is probably best known for her portrayal of a gun-happy gal in the classic noir "Gun Crazy" from 1950.

After winning the lead in 1947's Forever Amber over 200 auditioners, she was replaced by Linda Darnell because the producers decided she wasn't famous enough.

Here she is in a programmer, "Escape" from 1948, alongside Rex Harrison. Harrison plays Matt DEnant, convicted of manslaughter after an accident involving a policeman.

It was a just act, defending a woman talking with him in the park; he punched the police officer, who hit his head on the bench and died as a result.

Matt is sentenced to three years in prison which he doesn't want to spend for something he doesn't feel responsible for. He escapes during a thick fog and is caught by a young upper class woman, Dora Winton, as he's stealing her breakfast in her bedroom. She feels sorry for him and gives him a coat and hat, and he takes off as the police search her family's house.

Matt runs into Dora again when a car he stole breaks down, and again, she helps him. Unfortunately, while she helps him, another friend does not, and he nearly walks into a trap.

Matt learns that she's engaged to a man she doesn't love, strictly for money as her family has fallen on hard times. She doesn't think three years is all that long to serve, and points out that if Matt has to run and hide the rest of his life, isn't that prison too?

Good story with good performances. There are a couple of messages here - there are different kinds of prisons, and different kinds of laws. As a priest tells Matt, God's law is infallible. Man's is not.

The end is unexpected, at least it was by me.

Poor old Rex Harrison ("Denant") is taking a stroll though a foggy park when he gets involved in a tragic contretemps with a prostitute and an undercover police officer. The ensuing fracas sees the officer fall to the ground where he bangs his head on the leg of a bench and dies. "Denant" stays put, owns up and throws himself on the mercy of the court - and a sentence of three years is his reward. He manages to escape, though, and with the help of a young girl "Dora" (Peggy Cummins) manages to lead the pursuing police - led by William Hartnell - a merry dance. I've got to say, though, that aside from the obvious criticism of the demonstrably inflexible justice system that penalised a man for an accident, I struggled to quite see the point of the rest of it. It has gently religious - or, perhaps more specifically Christian - undertones, and maybe that serves to illustrate that a system with some flaws is better than no system at all, but it doesn't resonate in a fashion that concludes in anything substantial. Perhaps that's the point - maybe we are too prone to look for definites where there are none to be had. It's decently paced - much of it takes place on the run - and there is the odd comic scene, too. Harrison and Hartnell do their jobs well enough without either really having to tax their resources, nor for that matter must we, watching.

This is of course a remake of the 1930 film starring Gordon Harker.This was the second film made by Associated Talking Pictures at Ealing.It is therefore rather primitive when compared to this film which gives it a Holluywood makeover,notwithstanding the fact that it was made in the UK by Fox.Given the use of the quotation from Galsworthy at the end one can only assume that this film is somehow supposed to teach a moral lesson and inspire faith in the workings of the machinery of Justice.Ironic when you think of the miscarriage of justice that was going on at the time with the infamous Christie case just one example of the way justice was not working.The problem with this story is that since it would appear that the crime was committed ,the protestations of wrongful conviction rather fall on deaf ears.

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.

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?