Woman on the Run

It's been a long time since Film Noir of the Week first discussed Woman on the Run. At the time the film was just put out on a public domain DVD label. Through the haze and scratchy audio it was clear that the film is just excellent.

The highly enjoyable crime film and sometimes travelogue of 40s San Francisco is irresistible. True, most remember Ann Sheridan shedding her glamorous persona or the dogged cop stuck with the dog (Robert Keith).

But what I've really grown to appreciate is Dennis O'Keefe. He plays a machine-gun talking reporter rat-tat-tatting his lines as he tails Sheridan.

O'Keefe was from a show biz family. His parents were a duo in a vaudeville act that would frequently travel to Los Angeles. By the time O'Ke...

It's more frightening than romantic. It's the way love is when you're young... life is when you're older.

Woman on the Run is directed by Norman Foster who also co-adapts the screenplay with Alan Campbell from a story by Sylvia Tate. It stars Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith and Ross Elliott. Music is by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman and cinematography by Hal Mohr.

When Frank Johnson (Elliott) witnesses a man being shot and he himself is shot at by the killer, he decides to go on the run rather than trust police protective custody. The police turn to Frank's wife, Eleanor (Sheridan) to help track him down, but she thinks he has other reasons to runaway. Aided by newspaperman Danny Leggett (O'Keefe), who is after the exclusiv...

This is a rather superior little crime feature with a good, workmanlike cast delivering quite a suspenseful story without any fuss. "Frank Johnson" witnesses a gangland murder and goes into hiding. Soon enough the police - Robert Keith; his rather disgruntled wife - Ann Sheridan - and her newspaper pal Dennis O'Keefe are all trying to track him down; one because they think he might know more and be in danger from retaliation; the others because they think he might be absconding from an dodgy marriage. It's got quite a few entertaining twists and turns - and you just know that one of them isn't going to be who they claim to be; a secret that holds reasonably fast until quite near the end. It's got some nice looking cinematography - San Franc...