Movie Review: Woman on the Run (1950) directed by Norman Foster
Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is out walking his dog Rembrandt (uncredited) one evening when he witnesses a gangland slaying. He gets a good look at the killer, but not vice versa as the gunman shoots at his shadow instead before driving off. When the police, led by Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), arrive, Frank slowly realizes that if the gangsters killed one witness, they’ll have no qualms about killing him. While the cops fetch his wife Eleanor Johnson (Ann Sheridan), Frank slips away.
Eleanor is a bitter woman and their marriage is on the rocks. She’s initially convinced that Frank isn’t so much running from the gangsters as finding a convenient excuse to run out on her. Inspector Ferris is not so sure about that, and searches the unhappy couple’s apartment for clues to where Frank might run. It’s notable that there are no photos of Frank, who is nondescript and hates any picture of himself. But there’s lovely sketches and paintings of Eleanor as Frank is a high-strung amateur artist who is his own worst critic, which is why he refuses to sell his work or have it exhibited.
Ferris puts a watch on the Johnsons’ apartment, and Eleanor escapes through the skylight. Only to discover that Dan Legget (Dennis O’Keefe), a particularly persistent reporter, has staked out that escape route. Dan promises to help Eleanor look for Frank in exchange for an exclusive interview. Eleanor ditches him as soon as she can, but he shows up again anyway and she’s largely forced to allow him to join her.
This movie makes good use of the San Francisco location, not just the streetcars and Chinatown, but the overwhelming number of sailors in the city and businesses that cater to their needs. (But the murder location is in Los Angeles and the end amusement park scenes are in Santa Monica.) It gives the movie a strong sense of being in an actual place.
Over the course of the plot, Eleanor learns a lot of things she didn’t know about her husband. Surprisingly, most of them are good. Neither of them had communicated properly. Between his inability to handle showing his art to the public and her demands that he finally amount to something, things had escalated to the point they were barely talking, and even then only to quarrel. But it would seem that Frank still loves Eleanor, and just maybe she still loves him back.
Which would be lovely if there weren’t still gangsters out to kill Frank for what he knows.
Ann Sheridan is good as Eleanor, and Mr. O’Keefe also does a fine job. In small but crucial roles, we have Sam (Victor Sen Yung) and Suzie (Reiko Sato) a pair of Chinese nightclub dancers. Their stage makeup is kind of cringy, but once out of it, they’re refreshingly non-stereotyped for the time period.
There are some nice suspenseful moments, such as when Eleanor is trapped on a roller coaster when she finally makes an important connection.
The ending is maybe a touch too glib to be a proper noir.
This movie is in the public domain, but I am told most of the copies floating around are very bad transfers. You may want to seek out the good restoration version. Recommended to black and white thriller fans.
