A guy is out walking his dog one evening when he witnesses a homicide in "Journey into Fear" director Norman Foster's atmospheric, above-average, crime thriller "Woman on the Run," starring Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, and Robert Keith. Ostensibly, Foster and "A Star Is Born" scenarist Alan Campbell have adapted Shirley Tate's 1948 short story published in a contemporary magazine. Instead of sticking with Tate's title "Man on the Run," the filmmakers changed it to "Woman on the Run." Predictably, Sheridan spends most of the film's 77 minutes on the run herself as Eleanor Johnson who is pursuing her husband around San Francisco with an inquisitive newspaper reporter (Dennis O'Keefe of "Raw Deal") in tow. Journalist Dan Legget assures Eleanor that he is only looking for a scoop. Meantime, we don't see much of Eleanor's husband Frank (Ross Elliot of "Kelly's Heroes") who does a good job of making himself elusive. Meantime, Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith of "The Line-Up") and his colleagues maintain surveillance on Eleanor who is reluctant to share information with them about her husband. Suffice to say that everything turns out for the good by fade-out, but "Woman on the Run" boasts a supreme sized surprise that discriminating spectators will figure out before the characters in the story notice it. Indeed, I am reluctant to expose this surprise because it makes the movie worth-watching. Nevertheless, Foster and "Captain Blood" lenser Hal Mohr take us on a tour of the City by the Bay that only San Francisco residents may truly appreciate. "One Touch of Venus" editor Otto Ludwig deserves kudos--as does Mohr--for careening depiction of a roller-coaster ride that Eleanor embarks on at an amusement park in the climactic scene that brings all the principals together and ties things up rather neatly. Sheridan is perfectly cast as the faithful wife. Dennis O'Keefe shows a different side of himself as he accompanies Sheridan on their quest to find her spouse. "Woman on the Run" qualifies as a concise, well-made, crime thriller.
Review of Woman on the Run
