Woman on the Run (1950): watch the full film free, legally

A witness disappears across San Francisco

Norman Foster directed Woman on the Run, a 1950 American crime film noir starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe. It was based on Sylvia Tate's April 1948 short story “Man on the Run.” Sheridan plays Eleanor Johnson, whose husband Frank, played by Ross Elliott, suddenly vanishes after witnessing a gangland murder in San Francisco.

Frank is an artist who sees a gangster shoot an important trial witness sought for extortion money. The killer notices Frank and fires at him. Inspector Martin Ferris, played by Robert Keith, recognizes that Frank is the sole witness able to identify the murderer in a lineup and places him in protective custody. But after seeing bullet holes in the chest of his shadow on a wall, Frank understands how narrowly he escaped death. Panicked, he slips away from the police.

Ferris turns to Eleanor, learning that the Johnsons' marriage has been deeply strained and that Frank has told his wife little about his life. Eleanor explains that Frank has a longstanding habit of running from difficult situations and events. Reporter Danny Legget, played by O'Keefe, attaches himself to Eleanor's search for her missing husband. His help comes with romantic advances, while Eleanor's feelings for Frank begin to return during his absence. Police officers also follow Eleanor as the search moves through the city.

Letters, paintings and a missing artist

At a Chinese nightclub frequented by Frank, a waiter gives Eleanor a note that Frank left behind. Frank says he will send a letter to his workplace revealing where he is. Danny discovers that Suzie, a Chinese dancer played by Reiko Sato, possesses a sketch given to her by Frank, and he takes the drawing. Soon afterward, Suzie falls from a window to her death. The nightclub staff cannot believe she would have taken her own life.

Eleanor finds a further clue in one of Frank's paintings at another bar. At his department-store workplace, she locates his letter, which directs her to “the place where he first lost her.” She identifies the place as a beach near an amusement park. Eleanor and Danny head there, as the separate searches by the police, the wife and the reporter tighten around Frank's whereabouts. The cast also includes John Qualen as Maibus, Frank Jenks as Detective Shaw, Victor Sen Yung as Sam, and Syd Saylor as bartender Sullivan.

Location shooting and a later restoration

Ann Sheridan was announced as the female lead in January 1950, when the working title was Man on the Run. The following month, producers reportedly faced script problems and changed writers. Sheridan was paid $150,000 and was reported to have negotiated for a large share of the profits. Twentieth Century-Fox paid Fidelity Pictures $50,000 to postpone production while Sheridan completed Stella. Reports that she became ill after moving directly from Stella to this film were vehemently denied by Sheridan.

Production began in early May and ended in mid-June 1950. Much of the film was shot on location in San Francisco, though some San Francisco night scenes were filmed in the Court Hill section of Los Angeles. Ocean Park Pier in Santa Monica supplied the amusement-park and roller-coaster scenes. Sheridan, who feared roller coasters after a childhood amusement-park accident, made eight full rides on the Ocean Park Pier coaster while filming the sequence. Reiko Sato was cast after Sheridan saw her dancing at a nightclub. Ross Hunter worked as dialogue director. Film noir historian Eddie Muller said much of the dialogue was improvised, unusual for the period, and that no continuity script was completed.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film melodrama of “solid if not spectacular proportions,” citing its characterizations, plausible dialogue, suspense and scenic San Francisco setting. Los Angeles Times reviewer Philip K. Scheuer described it as a presentable Hitchcock-type thriller and pointed to Foster's roller-coaster finish. A pristine print located in Universal's vault in 2003 was destroyed in the 2008 Universal lot fire. The negative and soundtrack were later found in the British Film Institute collection, enabling a restoration funded by the Film Noir Foundation and Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The restored film premiered in August 2015.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Woman on the Run”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.