Donna in fuga

Deborah Chandler (Ida Lupino) assures her mill owner father that she is not marrying dubious plant manager Selden Clark IV (Stephen McNally). Then her father dies in a plant accident. On the day of the funeral, Selden asks her to marry him. She eventually accepts, but suspicion soon arises when distraught Patricia Monahan (Peggy Dow) shows up on their honeymoon.

There are so many red flags. It is probably for the best that the audience doesn't always see him sweet-talk her to ignore those flags. I don't think that I would believe those scenes. I can always ignore what I don't see. This is a nice little melodramatic potboiler. It helps to have Ida Lupino selling the material.

"Woman in Hiding" from 1950 stars Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, and Howard Duff.

The film begins with a narration by Lupino, over a scene where police are trying to find her dead body after a car crash.

After her father (John Litel) dies from a fall, Deborah Chandler inherits the successful mill the family owns. She marries the general manager Selden (McNally). On her wedding night, they go to a cottage and find a girlfriend (Peggy Dow) of Selden's who has let herself in with a key.

Deborah then finds out that Selden killed her father. She flees from the cottage, only to find out that Selden, knowing she would do this, has cut the brakes of the car. Deborah jumps out before the car hits the water.

Selden isn't sure she's dead because no body was found; he wants to know for sure so he can inherit the mill free and clear. So he offers a $5000 reward for anyone who can find her. Deborah sees the ad while working in a restaurant and takes off. Passing a beauty salon, she hatches the idea to change her appearance.

Well, this is a not too great part of the story. She reappears with her hair maybe two shades lighter - she keeps calling herself a blonde, but she isn't - no sunglasses, hat, nothing. A man, Keith Ramsey (Duff) running the newspaper counter at the bus station remembers meeting her. When he sees her again, he takes off in pursuit.

Keith manages to earn Deborah's trust. His motives are a little ambiguous. He calls Selden and says he's not totally sure it's his wife, and he seems concerned about her. As Deborah attempts to keep running, things get rough.

Very exciting film with good performances. Lupino gives a strong performance as frightened and vulnerable woman; McNally is good at playing evil; and a young Howard Duff is handsome and charming. As Selden's girlfriend, Peggy Dow is terrific. The screen lost a real beauty as well as a fine actress when she married and retired.

The last ten minutes or so are nerve-wracking. Enjoy.

To begin with I never liked noir genre and thankfully this movie has only got a small portion of it - all the rest consists of a gorgeous drama, chilling thriller and a romance that happened unintentionally and all the three genres perfectly blend together making it one of the best movies in its genre which is unfairly forgotten now. Ida Lupino is an absolute master and her stunning performance has been playing the first fiddle throughout the whole movie, not allowing us to leave it in peace. "Woman in hiding" keeps you guessing until the very end, it hints, gives clues to what might happen but you can never really be sure what exactly and this is the best thing about movies in general as an art. For me, unfortunately, this is a one-time movie as I don't really like paperthin storylines and no subtext but it was a brilliant ride anyway.

As in almost all of these suspenseful melodramas from the '50s, there are certain lapses in logic throughout WOMAN IN HIDING that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Some of the choices that Lupino makes as the vulnerable heroine are too foolhardy to be believable, but once the plot starts rolling there's no turning away.

A particularly bad choice is the scene where she casually gets into a car with Peggy Dow, a scorned woman who is leading her into a trap which brings her right back to the man (Stephen McNally) she is hiding from at a dark and sinister mill.

But despite such motivational flaws, the film manages to be a better than average melodrama with all three leads--Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally--giving expert performances.

Most effective aspect is the tight pace of the story and the film noir look of the B&W photography. Ida Lupino gives another one of her tense performances as she gets caught up in the excessive manipulations of McNally who is intent on killing her to inherit her father's mill. Howard Duff tries to help once he understands her fears and from that point on the story leaps forward to a satisfying ending involving a trick later used to good effect in Joan Crawford's "Sudden Fear." Not a great film, but a satisfying "lady in distress" melodrama.

As the opening credits roll, newly wedded Ida Lupino (as Deborah Chandler) desperately tries to stop herself from crashing her car. In an attempted murder, the brakes have been disabled. We see the car drive off a North Carolina bridge and listen to Ms. Lupino's ghostly narration. But don't assume she's dead, or that the accident ends the story… After the prologue fails to uncover a dead body, we begin earlier. Inheriting a profitable mill upon the subsequently suspicious death of her father, Lupino marries the plant's general manager Stephen McNally (as Selden Clark). Apparently, they were a long-term couple; the wedding is the first of several implausible story developments. Lupino asks, "Why didn't I see it?" Don't know...

When they arrive at Mr. McNally's mountain cabin for a honeymoon, sexy Peggy Dow (as Patricia Monahan) is waiting. She reveals herself as McNally's "little business trips" lover and is understandably furious with Lupino's presence. After husband and lover smack each other around, Lupino decides she wants the marriage annulled, but McNally refuses. Lupino runs off, changes her name to "Ann Carter" and tries to hide from her homicidal husband. She meets handsome and helpful Howard Duff (as Keith Ramsey), but he isn't sure who is telling the truth. Beautiful black-and-white photography by William Daniels, effective direction from Michael Gordon and engaging performances make "Woman in Hiding" well worth following.

******* Woman in Hiding (12/27/49) Michael Gordon ~ Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally, Peggy Dow