The Night Runner

I always thought it was Stephen Mc Nally playing the lead in this film. Maybe because I have always thought that Stephen McNally looked like Ray Danton too. And mc Nally was under Universal contract; so he could have perfectly been in this picture. That said, the Hitchcockian story is really unusual and the Danton's character so ambivalent. For me, the best movie from director Abner Biberman and a movie to watch at all cost. I have arely seen a so ambivalent character, for whom you may hesitate between atraction - empathy - and repulsion. Yes, a true interesting little gem that proves once more that Universal studios was for me the most interesting studio from the fifties. It provided all kinds of good films: westerns, science fiction, crime movies, dramas, comedies, adventure. All kinds. And not juicy, fancy as MGM for instance, or even Twentieth Century Fox.

This is an excellent film noir B picture from Universal, whose standards for such pictures were high. It is based on a story by Owen Cameron, who published eight novels between 1946 and 1961, but only two of his stories were ever filmed. This one involves a young man, played by Ray Danton, who is prematurely released from a mental hospital, having been diagnoses with schizophrenia. He can suddenly erupt into violence, and there is a dispute at the hospital about whether he is cured or not. They finally let him go because they are over-crowded and they think two years' treatment has been enough. In his normal personality he is mild, well-mannered, pleasant and agreeable. He has a past record of employment as a skilled draftsman. But he cannot stand stress. He is played with incredible sensitivity and skill by Ray Danton, an under-rated actor who in his career got stuck with a lot of bad-guy parts and rarely got to show his more pleasant side. He shows the confusion and disbelief he experiences when he 'comes round' after a 'spell'. The story is tragic. He thinks at first he will go to L. A. and find a job but he cannot stand the crowds and the noise, so he takes a Greyhound bus tour of the California coast and when he finds a quiet little town with an even quieter motel comprised of little cabins, he decides to stay there. He falls for the charming daughter of the owner. She is played by Colleen Miller as a sweet 'girl next door'. She falls for him. He gets a job and they agree to get married. Colleen's father, played by Willis Bouchey, who as usual acts a lot with his eyes, is suspicious of Danton, and opens a confidential letter from Danton's doctor. Well, things get too tense for Danton when the father calls him a lunatic. I shall tell no more of the story. The film shows some interesting footage of California in the fifties. The film was very well directed by Abner Biberman, and he introduces into the film a particularly brilliant device of the television being turned on far too loud at a crucial moment, which vastly increases the tension. The title THE NIGHT RUNNER, by the way, has nothing whatever to do with the story, and must have been dreamt up by the studio.

For a film about mental illness, this was a real surprise. Hollywood tends to go to extremes: either a violent psychotic killer movie or a preachy story of how people with mental issues are mistreated by society is what one would expect. How refresing that Universal's B unit would make such a serious drama.

I was more than rooting for Ray Danton, since it's was so easy to identify with his predicament - trying to start a new life and readjust to society after a couple of years in a mental institution. The realistic opening of the state hospital's board debating whether he was ready to be released played 100% true.

The setting at cottges off the beach created an idyllic atmosphere for Ray to make progress in the company of sympathetic local folk -like pregnant Merry Anders and her friendly husband. Just when everything finally is going aces for Ray, including a beautiful girlfriend in Colleen Miller, the prejudice and meanness of her dad causes him to explode with fatal consequences. At this point, we know it's only a matter of time before he will meet his fate, but the suspense is well-handled, and the Gothic climax (replete with waves crashing into the rocks on shore) packs a wallop.

The casting against type of pretty boy/suave Ray Danton as our hapless antihero works wonders for the powerful pathos of the ending. Definitely a winner by director Abner Biberman and writer Gene Levitt (who notably produced "Combat!" for TV).

This is psychologically interesting, since it delves into the mind of a recently released mental hospital patient, who was reluctantly released by his psychiatrist who didn't consider him cured well enough, but his colleagues insisted on the release, so our man got his chance. Did he succeed in becoming a normal person again? He probably would have if the jealousy of a blundering father hadn't interfered, when he fell in love with his daughter. A case like this needs some delicacy in handling, which the father was incapable of. He didn't get what he deserved, but our over-sensitive nervous patient of some liability might have cured himself in taking responsibility for his consequences. It is a beautiful low-budget film with a booming sea and exquisite music all along, so it deserves being considered as something more than just a B-melodrama.

"The Night Runner" is a confusing movie. It's not sure if it should be a nice film about mental health with a positive message or if it should be a story inspired by "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"! I personally think it should have taken one path or the other...but unfortunately it tried to be a little of both and the results are only okay at best.

Roy (Ray Danton) has been hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for a couple years. After all, he is moody and has fits of anger that make him dangerous. However, the hospital is over capacity and needs the beds and Roy is discharged sooner than his therapist wishes.

What follows is Roy's moving to the Los Angeles area and his trying to adjust to life on the outside. He seems like he's trying hard to make it and you want to see him succeed. He has a lovely girlfriend and a job. However, about midway through the film, he goes berserk and murders someone with only moderate provocation...and here's where it seems that the film is no longer about mental illness and rehabilitation but is more a horror-suspense movie.

As I mentioned above, the film tries to work both sides and the overall story is sadly impacted. It could have worked either way, with him being a dangerous menace or him getting his life together...but not as it was. It forgets realism and just goes for thrills and frights...complete with 'looney' sound effects! As a result, the film is just okay when it could have been so much more.