The Chase (1946)

Film Noir

Starring Robert Cummings, Michele Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre

Directed by Arthur Ripley.
Based on Cornell Woolrich's 1944 novel The Black Path of Fear.

Chuck Scott gets a job as chauffeur to tough guy Eddie Roman; but Chuck's involvement with Eddie's fearful wife becomes a nightmare.

Chuck Scott, drifting and skint, finds a wallet and returns it to its owner. The owner is one Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran), an apparently wealthy and thriving business man who repays Chuck's honesty by giving him a job as a chauffeur. Nothing from here on in will ever be the same....

The job proves to be nerve-wracking, with enemies of 'businessman' Eddie Roman having a way of meeting violent ends. Soon Chuck proceeds to fall in love with Roman's wife, who is so frightened of her husband that she tries to commit suicide. The two decide to run away together, but Roman finds out about their plans and the chase is on. Or is it? Chuck is caught like a rat in a trap, vainly seeking a way out through dark streets. But the real chase has only just begun...

The Chase is one of those films that fell into the public domain, got a cult following, and now arguably deserves a place on the must see list of film noir enthusiasts.

This is one of the most off-beat noirs you will ever see. It ranges from tension to turmoil in short bursts because it is, ah, different. You may have to run parts of it back to see if you missed something - but chances are you didn't. It's that kind of film.

The heavies are the best part of the cast. Steve Cochran may have done his best work here, and Peter Lorre does what he does best. Michele Morgan is lovely, and Bob Cummings seems as confused as the rest of us.

Adjustments were required for the story to comply with the US Production Code. Adjustments to scenes set in Cuba were also required to avoid upsetting the Cuban government.

Eleven years later, Michèle Morgan would play a similar role in the French noir Retour de manivelle (1957), as the unhappy wife of a rich man who hires a down-and-out good Samaritan as chauffeur and who has a dog, and who develops a relationship with the employee.

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This is a Public Domain Film
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