Girl on the Run

Great little sleazy noir murder mystery at a burlesque (tame)show on the midway. A pulp story brought to life! But watch for Steve McQueen as a background extra in a couple of scenes! Must be his first part.

Carny noir concerns 1950's vice rackets. The basic mystery is "Who killed George" but there are a lot of noir type character relationships intertwined in the story. It is tough and cheap, fitting to the 1950's carny world.

Rosemary Petit is svelte and effective and appears to be a legit b-film actress. On the opposite end of the film babe spectrum is French tart Renee De Milo who believe me still delivers plenty of va-voom to the screen after all these years. While by no means great, "Girl on the Run" is a hard boiled film that held my attention. Noir enthusiasts will need this in their collection.

Extras on the Alpha DVD include a goofy trailer for "The Girl in Gold Boots" which extols that "for Buzz, the answer was a gun!" and also some other cheesy stuff.

Never heard of the directing duo, but they certainly owe a debt to Fritz Lang and Wiemar cinema in general. With an nod to Tod Browning for ambience.

Best viewed as a gestalt. Ignore such conventions as plot, acting and dialogue. The reward is in the esthetic. The evocative cinematography in particular. Cf, the mechanical clown that opens and closes the film. A stunning and memorable image.

GIRL ON THE RUN takes place in a carnival, where the nightly burlesque show has been drawing too much attention from the police. This is bad for Bill Martin (Richard Coogan) who's on the lam due to a murder he didn't commit. Bill needs his girlfriend, Janet (Rosemary Pettit) to hide out at the carnival while he looks for the real killer.

Not surprisingly, Janet becomes a dancer in the burlesque show. She quickly trades in her conservative clothes for more interesting attire.

Uh oh!

Someone is snooping around looking for Bill and Janet! Can Bill uncover what's going on before being caught? Will Janet ever get her dance steps right?

With a midway full of fascinating characters, this movie is very enjoyable from start to finish. Of special interest are the hard-edged Lil (Edith King), Blake (Charles Bolender) the diminutive carnival owner, and the lovely tall-drink-of-water known as Gigi (Renee De Milo).

A good example of low-budget filmmaking done right.

P. S.- Watch for a very young Steve(n) McQueen in an uncredited role. He pops up a few times...

A third string "C" Film Noir that actually may be the best of the Carney based Film Noir.

As much as I like Nightmare Alley (1947), this carnival film never leaves the midway much like Todd Browning's Freaks (1932). It's a great capture of the gritty atmosphere of a traveling carnival of tent and plywood, lit by strings of bare light bulbs. Victor Lukens cinematographer, creates a gritty claustrophobic carny setting, with convoluted passageways between tents, the midway, plywood arcades, cramped backstage warrens, along with trailers, and other equipment.

Most of the cast are playing carnies, Charles Bolender shines as the Carney Boss Blake, a cigar chomping little person who runs the show. Bolender deploys great ways of evening the keel whenever he has to deal with other people often ending up higher and looking down on them. Veteran actor Frank Albertson (Mantrap, Nightfall, Physco, Shed No Tears, They Mane Me A Killer, It's A Wonderful Life) plays the local cop Hank on carnival duty. Harry Banister a early TV vet plays the local corrupt politician Reeves.

Veteran TV Western Actor Richard Coogan (Vice Raid) is Bill Martin, a falsely accused of murder reporter who takes refuge at the carnival. Rosemary Pettit (Walk East On Beacon) plays Janet his girl who gives off a Gene Tierney vibe. She is forced to hide out with a chorus of carnival strippers, the de-facto "Girl On The Run" mothered by veteran early TV actress Edith King (Calcutta). Pettit is great as the good girl who has to be a quick study learning how to jiggle along with the rest of the strippers.

Rounding out the rest of the cast John Krollers and other un-credited actors play carnival barkers, you can see a bit of Phil Silvers, or Bud Abbott in the parts, for all I know I wouldn't be surprised if they were real carnival barkers.

A shout out to Renee de Milo (her only credit) where ever she may be, she plays the headliner stripper Gigi. She does a complete dance and is so good at it that I suspect that she was an actual carnival stripper. She does her act without removing her bikini type costume but she's got the moves down that you can easily imagine what she'd display. Check out Carnival Strippers - Early Years (1971-1978) by Susan Meiselas for a reference work.

The film also has an early Steve McQueen as an extra.

The score is carnival music inter-spaced with jazz for the dance routines. This low budget Noir delivers, I go as high as a 6.5-7/10. If it did have A list actors for the two lovers, and say Bud Abbott or Phil Silvers as the barkers it could have been an 8/10.