Wonderful character development!

What a waste of my time!!!

Very well executed

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Fabulous forgotten Noir produced by Ann Sheridan who quit from Warner after released that didn't has no future there,this independent movie is marvelous and is about marriage relationship,in the curse of the movie is clearly placed the damages between the couple,the plot is clever to explore this matter...the movie like another noir is pretty interesting but the subliminal messages is quite fantastic....Ann Sheridan in this time was no longer a young pretty lady...but still a good actress as show in the picture with acid words when she was questioned by Inspector Ferris,another pleasant acting is Dennis o' Keefe as Dan Legget a newspaper reporter who is actually the Killer!!!More... the movie gave to us a nice view of many San Francisco's spots in those time...A real Gem to be discover for those love cinema!!!Resume:First watch: 2017 / Hoe many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

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.

As another user here said, seeing that this film was in the public domain for anyone to sell or distribute made me assume that perhaps it would be a film that wasn't even seen as worthy of the cost of the stamp to renew the copyright. I was pleasantly surprised to see that actually, while not brilliant, it was actually quite enjoyable in how it moved. The plot sees a normal guy (Frank) out for a walk when he witnesses a murder and, although shot at himself, he is not hit. The police interview him as a witness but it quickly becomes clear to Frank that he was very lucky not to be killed himself and will clearly be a target again. As a result he goes missing and soon his wife (Eleanor) is looking for him, believing that he is actually running away from their difficult relationship. With journalist Danny Leggett alongside her looking for a scoop, she sets off to find him herself.The story unfolds as a reasonably engaging thriller with solid development. I enjoyed the relationship between Leggett and Eleanor as it skirts on the sort of playfulness that you tend to get with male/female partnerships in these sort of films but yet at the same time as more going on as Eleanor is open about her relationship. As others have said here, there is a twist at the end and it probably works much better if you don't know it is coming, because if you do then you are pretty much looking for it (which is why I think telling people there is a twist is a sort of spoiler in and of itself). Anyway, it is not too hard to guess but it is still quite nice when it comes.Although the film opens with Elliott, he is absent from most of the film and never really made an impact on me. Sheridan is great though with her turn and she works very well with O'Keefe. The direction from Foster is good at making an atmosphere without overdoing it in the process. Generally the film delivers well and has a nice tough edge mixed with playfulness which teases the viewer in quite a satisfying way.

I no longer know what makes a film "noir". I mean, it can't be simply a black-and-white detective movie or murder mystery with lots of shadows and a duplicitous woman, because then we're talking Charlie Chan. Literally, "noir" means black or, sometimes, "dark." The French broadened the meaning of "noir" to include American movies with an oppressive atmosphere, odd camera angles, and weird lighting set ups. I guess, if we stretch the semantics a little more, "Woman On The Run" may be called a "noir," though not a "noir d'ebene." I'd add the accents but can't find them.Okay, boys and girls, this is the story of an innocent but rather dumb man, Ross Elliott, who witnesses a murder in San Francisco. The murderer, whom we've heard called "Danny Boy", has witnessed the witness and takes a few shots at him. Elliott calls the cops who want to put him in protective custody. The idea doesn't appeal to Elliott. He takes a powder and we don't see him again until the end of the movie.The cops want Elliott badly. As it turns out, they want him rather more than his wife, Ann Sheridan. They're married but distant from one another. Sheridan doesn't even know he has a serious heart condition. When she finds out, she sets about trying to track Elliott down in the city in order to bring him the medicine he needs. She's accompanied by Dennis O'Keefe, a reporter for a tabloid newspaper who wants the story. And she's pursued by the police, who expect her to lead them to Elliott.It's her investigation of her husband's activities, of which she seems largely ignorant, that lifts this story above the routine. Sheridan visits Elliott's place of work, his bar, and so forth, and bit by bit realizes that her husband loves her, that he's too reserved to throw himself at her, and that she herself has been a demanding wife and a cold fish. Without that element of discovery, it's a more ordinary murder mystery shot on a modest budget.Nobody thinks of director Norman Foster as an "auteur" -- here come the French again -- but he does a good, craftsmanlike job here. The performances are okay. No one stands out. Everyone is reliable. There is a young Japanese girl who plays a Chinese dancer and she's quite memorable although she has only a few lines before she's thrown off a balcony. The guy who tosses her -- a guy we know but we don't know we know, y'know? -- ought to be brutally spanked. Instead he just winds up floating in the bay with a bullet in him.The climax is very well done for its type. The killer stalks Elliott among the cross-crossing shadows under a roller coaster while Sheridan, who has just learned the murderer's identity, tries to shout a warning from the rocketing amusement park ride.The filming locations put that amusement park in Carmel, but it can't be the Carmel that now exists. Nobody in Carmel would allow a roller coaster to perturb the tranquil artistry of the place. I suspect the real location was in Santa Cruz. The midway we see looks a lot like the place where back-lighted Dirty Harry fondled his .357 automag and muttered "Make my day".It's interesting to see the city's locations in 1950. Some have evolved, some not. I expect most of the indoor scenes were shot at Universal Studios. The outdoor scenes lack dialog except that which was dubbed in later. Yet, the city itself is pleasing to look at, on screen or in life. It's the most Mediterranean-looking city in the US because of the pastel houses and the multiple elevations. Everywhere you look, the earth is tossed and tumbled into mountains and hills. The rooftops are magnificent places to stage foot chases on, not to mention the views.