Woman On The Run (1950)

After he witnesses a murder, a man (Ross Elliott) goes on the run. Since he is the only one who can identify the killer, the police focus on his wife (Ann Sheridan) in the hopes she can lead them to him. Based on a magazine short story by Sylvia Tate entitled MAN ON THE RUN and directed by Norman Foster (JOURNEY INTO FEAR). This minor film noir is unique in its married protagonists. An unhappily married couple on the verge of divorce, Sheridan's wife discovers that she really doesn't know her husband at all and her preconceptions of him have been damaging to their relationship. The film is also abundant in sardonic humor which offsets the race against time to find the husband before the killer finds him. Midway through the movie, the audience is alerted to the identity of the murderer which adds to the tension since we know who the killer is but the film's characters don't. The majority of the film was shot in San Francisco and the director of cinematography Hal Mohr (THE WILD ONE) does a bang up job of shooting the city in striking B&W images though L.A. stands in for San Francisco in a couple of major scenes. I'm not sure why the film makers thought the rollercoaster finale was a good idea. While it's very cinematic, it still seems arbitrary rather than organic. With Dennis O'Keefe as a reporter, Robert Keith, John Qualen, Joan Shawlee, Reiko Sato and Victor Sen Young.