Run for the Sun

Movie talks upon a beautiful woman reporter (Jane Greer) , she is looking for an adventurer novelist(Richard Widmark) in a solitary South American location . They fall in love and aboard a plane are crashed on jungle . There find shelter in an inhospitable mansion inhabited by strange people (Trevor Howard and Peter Van Eyck) .

The picture gets adventure action , a love story , thriller , exciting pursuits with numerous odds , risks and perils and results to be pretty entertaining . Richard Widmark as the stalwart and brave hero is nice . Enjoyable Jane Greer (Out the past) as a genuinely moving heroine is fine . Secondary cast is excellent with a terrific Trevor Howard and a crafty Peter Van Eyck . The tale was compellingly developed in this second of several versions using Richard Connell's famed novel . It's a remake to ¨The most dangerous game¨(Ernest B.Schoedsack with Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks as count Zaroff), the classic and black and white adaptation was creepier and darkest , this version is glimmer (spectacular cinematography by Joseph LaShelle) and an adventure film . Recent version titled ¨Surviving the game¨(Ernest Dickerson with Ice T and Rutger Hauer) is more violen t. Motion picture was well directed by British director Roy Boulting . The flick will appeal to Richard Widmark fans and adventure cinema-goers . Rating : Good , if you haven't seen it , you don't miss the chance the next time .

Viewed most of the films that Richard Widmark starred in, however, I finally discovered this film being shown on TV in the wee hours of the morning and found this to be a great film Classic. Richard Widmark, (Mike Latimer) and Jane Greer gave an outstanding performance together, sometimes fighting like cats and dogs and struggling to get away from Trevor Howard, (Browne) who plays a very wicked character who will stop at nothing to get just what he desires in life. This entire cast of actors all gave an outstanding performance, but Widmark and Greer really put their heart and soul into this picture. Jane Greer experience a spinal injury during the making of this film, and years later she became very ill and needed surgery, which corrected her problem. It was during a scene in this picture where Jane goes through swampy water which contains many dangerous viruses.

I never was a fan of Richard Widmark, but it's interesting how you can tell a good movie when you see one. I saw about 10 seconds of this movie and there was something about it that was different. I could tell that it's worth seeing, so I did. The movie didn't disappoint. There's realness to the character that I don't get from watching movies made more recently, and the whole movie was - good. Now I can see why there are Richard Widmark fans out there. He's fantastic in this movie.

The plot is pretty shallow if you compare to newer movies. Nazis hiding in Latin American jungle, and a plane crashes bringing Widmark and Greer to their "estansia". But somehow, the movie has reality that's not seen in newer movies. I'm just not sophisticated enough to express what makes this movie that way.

The last 10 minutes of this movie is just superb. I doubt if you can make this movie better even if it was remade. I have renewed respect for Richard Widmark's talent as an actor.

Thrilling suspense in this jungle adventure with fantastic stars Widmark and Greer. some good dialogue, but the story doesn't really convince; it's just a vehicle for the situational suspense and romance. Widmark is a Hemingway-style author and Greer a journalist who finds him in hiding and tricks him into revealing his confidence (which, disappointingly, involves nothing more than a cliched love drama).

Nice direction, very effective photography in sharp color. Greer was never lovelier and, except in the incomparable Robert Mitchum, never found a better leading man. It's a shame that Hollywood allowed Mr. Howard Hughes to throw her into a ditch (figuratively, of course), because this lady had real talent.

This is a first rate remake (redesigned) of Richard Connell's classic suspense short story, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. If you are lucky, read the story. If you can't find it, see the 1932 movie with Joel McCrae, Leslie Banks (as the mad Count Zaharoff - General Zaharoff in the original short story), Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong. It captures the best aspects of the short story, but not all the clever details. Also, the sets were reused by the same production group (along with Fay Wray, Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot) for KING KONG shortly afterwords.

Basically the story goes like this. The hero is sole survivor of a shipwreck, and finds himself on an island owned by the villain. The villain, a master hunter, is insane, and has found there is only one game worth hunting - "the most dangerous game" or man, the only animal that one knows can think. He gives his "guests" (he has caused the shipwrecks) a good dinner or two, and then they proceed to run for their lives or until he kills them. But Rainsford (the hero in the original short story) is a trained hunter too. So for a change, Zaharoff really has a worthy opponent. The ending of the tale I will leave to the lucky reader.

But this 1956 film is an interesting version of the original. The scene shifts to an isolated jungle area of Mexico. Richard Widmark and Jane Greer are in a plane crash, and are rescued by Trevor Howard and Peter Van Eyck, both of whom are far from welcoming. Widmark is not sure, but he keeps thinking he knows Howard, although he's never seen him. Then he realizes it's Howard's voice - he heard it in World War II, as a Nazi propaganda figure (a British traitor). In short, Howard is a version of William Joyce, "Lord Haw Haw" (see SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR). Van Eyck is Howard's brother-in-law.

Howard and Van Eyck have been less than willing to help Widmark and Greer get back to civilization before, because they did not want to have them report them to the authorities - they are wanted for war crimes (at least Van Eyck is). Widmark, when he makes the mistake of discovering who his hosts are, suggests that if they help him and Greer get back, he can take a message to Howard's loved ones about their safety. Unfortunately, Howard explains, his wife and children were killed in the war by bombing. As it is apparent that Van Eyck wants to see the strangers dead, Widmark and Greer take off to try to get to safety. And then the story follows the lines of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

But ironically there is one more switch. Howard has been connected to Van Eyck only by the marriage - personally he has no liking for the man. As it turns out, he would not mind if he could get out of the jungle - away from this remnant of a bloody, horrific past. And so the film actually goes onto a somewhat different conclusion. But I leave it to the viewer to see what it is.