L'emprise

One of those very good, but forgotten film-noirs, it's a relatively strong story, of a girl who spent 4 years in prison for a crime she may or may not have done, and a cop who loved her and turned her in. It has good, tight execution and it's a film for film-lovers. The female lead is excellent in her portrayal, and it's too bad she only got used in several films, mostly for her skating and dancing abilities; and you should keep an eye out for the name of Jack Bernhard, the director, as he has other great noirs, such as The Decoy.

In this detective story, a private eye must send his fiancee to prison as he truly believes that she was involved in a bank robbery. Unfortunately, she is innocent. Still she serves her time. Upon her release someone frames her for murder. The detective is in quite a quandary until the real criminal is found. The woman finally returns to her beloved private eye. More romantic melodrama than 'noir' 'The Hunted' still shines as 'Belita ' the "Ice Queen" who was in the 1936 Olympic games as a figure skater for England ; serves up a great cat and mouse performance as Laura Mead . B-film crime story ably directed by Jack Bernhard. The Hunted is lit on 'noir' but is still a great Crime, Drama and Film-Noir in the end . Highly entertaining .

Police detective Johnny Saxon (Preston Foster) is on high alert when his former girlfriend Laura Mead (Belita) is released on parole for a bank heist which she was found guilty of four years earlier. Despite always having proclaimed her innocence, at the trial she had threatened to kill those she thought were responsible for her conviction, including boyfriend Saxon who helped put her away for the crime. Despite his misgivings Saxon again becomes involved with Mead when she appears in his apartment after arriving back in town. Though she is seemingly repentant, Saxon remains suspicious of her motivations. When a body turns up, Saxon pegs Mead as the likely suspect and figures he might be next. Did she do it or not?

A crime, mystery and melodrama mixture, this film could be described as a niche noir. The casting with the well into his forties Foster and Belita as his 21 year old girlfriend is on the surface a bit odd since the premise of the film teeters on the chemistry of the two characters. The older Foster, a definite candidate for a smoking cessation program, is spot on as the hard boiled cop and former boyfriend. The big surprise is Belita. 'The Hunted' is the third in a trio of crime programmers the former skating champion did for Monogram / Allied Artists. After watching this film it's hard to understand why her career never gained much traction. She certainly had the screen persona even though not what might be described as a classic Hollywood look.

Even though there is some padded fluff (superfluous ice skating sequence) and an over-extended early scene where the characters rehash their previous relationship, the movie is also a stylized and entertaining trek though the post war era of tough-guy detectives and dangerous dames. Again, not a straight up noir film but for viewers who enjoy filmdom's golden age of grit and duplicity it will likely check off enough boxes to make them happy.

A B movie noir from 1948. The only reason I bring up B movie is that this particular outing had a cheaper budget than most in this tale of a recently released woman from prison & the cop who arrested her re-entering her life to see if she really is walking the straight & narrow. Starring Belita (a once popular ice skater, I kid you not) who parlayed a film career specializing in noir roles, plays the ex-con & since she wasn't trained as an actor, most of her line deliveries sound strange & ill prepared but it actually works in the narrow confines of this story. Shot handily on minimal locations, this slight nugget of noir may not redefine the genre but it does what it sets out to do.

...because cop Johnny Saxon (Preston Foster) is literally haunted by his old relationship with recently released ex con Laura Mead (Belita). Four years ago she was his girl, but then the jewels from a robbery showed up in her apartment, and her brother was involved, but before he could say anything about Laura's involvement he was murdered. Laura went up the river for four years, vowing to kill her attorney and Johnny when she got out. This either means she was very guilty or very innocent.

So one minute Johnny is acting cold towards Laura because he thinks she played him for a fool by acting the good girl when she was actually a thief, and the next minute he is getting her a job at an ice rink(???). Yes I said ice rink, and there is even about a 5-10 minute number with Laura (Belita) figure skating in all of this in the middle that has nothing to do with the plot. But I'll get to this later.

So after Johnny spends a significant amount of time wandering around tormented about Laura, trying to get back to where he was emotionally in a way that reminds me of James Stewart in Vertigo, wandering the streets of San Francisco looking for a lost love he knows is gone, suddenly Johnny is OK with Laura. He believes her. Surprisingly Laura accepts Johnny's acceptance and seems to return this double minded man's love.

But then over one hour into this 84 minute film Laura's lawyer is found shot to death in his apartment with one of Laura's personal belongings lying close to the body. So has Johnny been made a fool of by this woman AGAIN, or is she really that unlucky? Watch and find out.

This is not one of those non stop action noirs. It is mainly just Johnny and Laura and their verbal dance of regret and attraction combined with some great cinematography and some classic noir scenes - the 40's diner, the bus stops, the long haul truckers, the line ups and inquisitions under hot lights. And there are a couple of LOL moments that are probably because this came from poverty row. Why is it every time there is a break in one of Johnny's cases the entire police force comes to a stop while he recovers from a punch or a wound or whatever? Can they not go after the suspect themselves? Then there is the case of X-Ray eyes Johnny has where he enters a room and goes straight to the place where a gun is hidden! Make this guy officer of the year!

Earlier I said I would explain the ice skating. Belita was a championship figure skater before her short acting career. I think her uncertain and untrained acting style worked for her in the films in which I've seen her, because you really don't know where she is coming from, and that adds to the suspense. I recommend it, especially if you've seen or heard Eddie Muller's comments on the film.