Girl on the Run

Richard Coogan ('The Californians') stars as Bill Martin, an ace reporter who's framed for the murder of his editor. He takes it on the lam with his devoted girlfriend Janet (Rosemary Pettit, in one of only five credits for her), and they hide out in a traveling carnival. There, he finds work as a pugilist and she learns how to do some exotic dancing. All the while, they have to prove that criminal big shot Clay Reeves (Harry Bannister, "The Girl of the Golden West") is the one responsible for the killing.

"Girl on the Run" is zippy, engaging Carny-Noir, shot through with plenty of seedy carnival atmosphere, and featuring enough padding to give us a real assortment of the sights and sounds of this place. It comes complete with typically stark photography for the genre (done by Victor Lukens), and an amusing script by Cedric Worth and co-director Arthur J. Beckhard. Some of the dialogue is pretty entertaining, and quick pacing results in a tidy little movie that runs just a little over 65 minutes. There's enough footage of sexy dancing girls to entice viewers, as well as the sight of Coogan in the boxing ring.

The characters are at least reasonably interesting, with Bannister making for an effective heavy. Coogan is a likeable hero, Pettit an appealing heroine, and Edith King ('The Phil Silvers Show') provides solid support as the matronly Lil, but the show is often stolen by the diminutive Charles Bolender ("Dark Intruder") as carny boss Mr. Blake. Star stripper Gigi is played by Renee De Milo, whose dancing is so good it's likely this was really what she did for a living (this was her only acting credit).

However, as most people will tell you, the real curiosity value is in spotting a very young Steve McQueen, as an extra at the carnival. It was the future stars' big screen debut, and he's not too hard to spot (pay close attention to the opening several minutes).

Seven out of 10.

GIRL ON THE RUN is actually a young couple on the lam from a phony murder rap who hide out in a two-bit carnival run by a cigar-chomping midget who looks a bit like Jack LaRue, she as a midway "chorine" and he as a boxing shill. The story takes place over the course of a night and I wasn't too sure what was going on other than the place being the nexus of local political corruption involving the murder of a "vice crusading" editor or somesuch. It's the kind of movie where the walls shake when a door slams but although it's far from THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, it's not without its tawdry charms, especially the less-than-lovely kooch dancers who have no business being on stage (although Renee De Milo was oddly fascinating) and they're on stage often. The only cast members I recognized were Frank Albertson as a sideshow barker and an uncredited Steve McQueen in among the carnival "crowd". I'm predisposed to "carny noir" however threadbare it may be so you reely can't go by me.

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.

This film beautifully points up the great difficulty there is in justly evaluating films in peripheral categories which have rather different values and value from mainstream films. All reviewers are unanimous that it is an excellent film and I am not going to disagree with the, It is a first-rate film in a fourth-rate category - the lowly "low budget" "B" film. It is not quite in the class of a film like Ullmer's Detour, which is a masterpiece, but it does magnificently capture the sleazy atmosphere of the equally fourth-rate carnival it portrays. Forget the purely nominal film noir plot. It is really about this grubby and grotesque but actually surprisingly charming little world to which a "straight" man and a "straight" girl on the run have to adapt themselves and come after a fashion to appreciate its values and its value. Like the nominal plot, they are the nomivnal stars. The real performances come fom Chares Olander as the hard-bitten, blackmailing, lecherous - but actually fundamentally decent - dwarf who runs the carnival, Frank Albertson as the baker and Edith Petit splendid as Lil in charge of the dancing girls, themselves only a knife-edge away away from a life of prostitution. The writing is tense and clever and the cinematography by the unknown Victor Lukens is superb. Don't bother to look out for Steve McQueen. If you blink you'll miss him. I must have blinked.

The French phrase in the title means "down there if you find me" (when one wants to get rid of someone, in slightly old-fashioned but delicious slang, one tells them to go and look somewhere else to see if one is there). It was also the title of a long-running radio programme, the last to defend committed investigative journalism in the interested of the underprivileged - those "down tere". And it is precisely that empathy with the world "down there" (see if am not there) that is the great quality of this film. Standing up nobly for the fourth-rate!

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.