This is a noirish suspense film directed by Norman Foster, previously noted for JURNEY INTO FEAR (1943, with script by Orson Welles), and who had done numerous Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan films. The direction is very good, and it is a pity that Foster never made it to the big leagues but spent most of the latter part of his career directing for television, including 14 episodes of Zorro. This film features B stars Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe. Ann Sheridan was only 35 at the time this film was made, but she looked older and seemed very tired and lacking in spirit. Perhaps she was already ill, because she was later to die aged only 51, having made 96 films, which is enough to make anybody weary, I suppose. Earlier in her career she had been a sultry hot number who was known as the 'Oooomph girl' because she had the 'oooomph'. (That is obsolete forties slang for sex appeal.) In this film Dennis O'Keefe does not play a square-jawed upright detective as he often did, but a man posing as a journalist who is really a vicious killer. One weakness in the story line is that the police do not seem to realize that he is not a real a journalist, which is ridiculous, considering how active he is in chasing the case they are investigating and that they must have been familiar with all real journalists covering crime stories. The film was shot on location in San Francisco, so that there are many interesting shots of San Francisco as it was in 1950. The film has a dramatic opening. Sheridan's husband (played by Ross Elliott, who appeared in an amazing 243 film roles in his lifetime, dying at 82 in 1999) is walking his dog at night, having climbed up some high steps in the semi-darkness, and above him he sees a car drive up and park. The driver of the car shoots his passenger dead and dumps his body. The husband sees the killer's face and, being an artist by profession, is able to draw it and identify the man. The killer sees him and shoots at him, trying to kill the only witness of the murder. But he aims at the shadow rather than the man himself, so misses. The husband then disappears, leaving his wife (Sheridan) exposed to danger, hence O'Keefe befriends her and helps her to try to find her husband, who is in hiding. She naturally does not know that this apparently helpful and rather glamorous man, whom she prefers to the abrasive and irritating police officers, is really trying to find her husband so that he can kill him. She is thus unwittingly leading a killer to her own husband, and in the process is heedlessly disregarding all the wise cautions of the police. It makes for an exciting story, and there are several dramatic scenes, such as shots from a roller coaster at an amusement park. At one point, Sheridan is trapped on a car riding the roller coaster while below her she can see O'Keefe approaching her husband, and she has just realized that he intends to kill him. She screams warnings which no one can hear. This is all very dramatic stuff and well done. Although this is a B film, it is a superior one, and let's face it, some of us like B films, don't we?
Review of Woman on the Run
