O Desertor

Most enjoyable and fast moving film from Lawrence Huntington in an amazingly crisp and clear Blu-ray print. Not incredibly original story as the title may suggest but the twist here is the background of some 20,000 deserters in the UK desperately trying to evade capture and survive on the fringe of society. Wonderful location shooting on the edge of Soho, Seven Dials and Mayfair plus some unbelievably effective set design and not forgetting the village of Corfe Castle at the start. When we shift to Wapping the pub interior is so authentic I am trying to work out just which one it is but its all done in the studio, fantastic job. Performances are fine, some of us groan when we see Kenneth More at the start, in one of his earlier films, but he is only a bit part as is Alfie Bass who we see for about two seconds. It is Derek Farr and Joan Hopkins who play the leads, perfectly adequately and more to the point convincingly and fortunatley a young Laurence Harvey doesn't have too much to do. A great watch and makes one wonder how many other gems there might be of this period.

"Man on the Run" is interesting for several reasons.

One is the postwar atmosphere in England and the problem they had with deserters, many of whom were on the run and resorting to crime. Here in the U. S., 21,000 people were charged and sentenced for desertion during World War II - 49 were sentenced to death, but only one sentence was carried out.

Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out.

The main character in this is Peter Burden (Derek Farrar). After four years in the service, he needed extra time on his leave because his sister was dying. He was refused and stayed with her anyway.

Peter is in hiding when approached by someone who knew him, a Corp. Newman (Kenneth More, in a small part). Newman wants blackmail money; instead, Peter takes off.

When Peter tries to pawn his gun, the pawnshop is robbed at the same time by two men. The police think it's three. He is being chased through the streets when he runs into an apartment building. There he meets a widow, Jean Adams (Joan Hopkins) who agrees to help him. She hides him and lets him stay at her place.

Peter knows certain distinguishing features of one of the men and feels if he could just find him, the police would learn of his innocence. By a series of circumstances, the police zero in on Jean, so she and Peter take off to a friend's place out of London.

The chase continues, and it's Jean who actually sees someone in a cafe that she thinks is one of the robbers.

Too many coincidences in the story, but the actors are likeable, and you do pull for both of them.

Not only did More appear, but all during the film, I kept thinking one of the police detectives looked like Laurence Harvey. That's probably because it was Laurence Harvey.

This is the one and only movie I saw (and I saw many) tackling the theme of deserters. Main character Peter is one of them, a guy who used to be a good soldier but felt compelled to run AWOL after four years of war because his father died in a raid and his mother and sister needed his presence.

Peter is working as a bartender in a remote corner of England when an ex-comrade happens to pass by and tries to blackmail him. Peter moves to London, where life is difficult and expensive, and while trying to pawn his weapon he gets involved in an attempted robbery. He's only a witness but the police are chasing him.

Attractive widow Jean comes to his help and the plot develops nicely, albeit in a slightly forced way towards a suitable ending. The interesting part is the perspective of deserters, considered both from a negative and less negative point of view and just for that, the movie deserves some extra points.

Derek Farr deserted from the British Army after four years of service and went underground. Now he is at the end of his rope, so he takes his service revolver to a pawn shop.... to pawn it. While he's standing there, two other men enter, knock out the owner and flee, killing a bobby as they go. Now Farr is really being pursued and he randomly stops Joan Hopkins... who agrees to help him.

There are definite noir elements in this movie, with discussion the estimated 20,000 deserters and some grimy cinematography by DP Wilkie Cooper, but that's about the limits of it. Otherwise, writer-director Lawrence Huntington has turned out a reasonably taut man-accused movie. Despite a decent story, the movie itself is curiously inert, with a lot of talk and not much movement.

Farr is clearly not wearing his hairpiece for this movie, an odd choice for a romantic lead type, but that, I suppose, it part of the noir aspect of it. Watch out for Laurence Harvey in his second screen appearance, playing a detective. He's only mildly creepy in this one.

An astringent little drama painting a vivid picture as shot by Wilkie Cooper of a seething postwar London rife with deserters, blackmailers and other lowlifes.

Top-billed Joan Hopkins is rather stiff as the heroine, but this actually renders her more more rather than less appealing - not being conventional leading lady material - and as usual the supporting case is full of entertaining surprises, including early appearances by Kenneth More and a moustached Laurence Harvey in only his second film role as a detective.