Woman on the Run (1950 Norman Foster & co-scr)

Well, this is a most welcome debut for us. Foster's Hitchcock-like thriller starts with man-on-the-run story but immediately shifts the focus on to his wife Ann Sheridan and her gradual learning about her husband, who she's been neglecting, whilst revealing that her accomplice Dennis O'Keefe is none other than the murderer (equipped with the biggest lighter in film until La Femme Infidèle!) Story by Sylvia Tate.

Hal Mohr's largely on location (in this respect ahead of its day) deep focus San Francisco photography also a major asset. Score by Lionel Newman's brother Emil (with Arthur Lange). Lots of interesting moments with window dresser John Qualen, Chinese dance act led by Victor Sen Yung, sympathetic police officer Robert Keith, who enlists the help of their dog Rembrandt ('It was the only way he could afford to own one'). That quote also evidences good dialogue, co-written by Alan Campbell. Great use of fairground setting, and in particular those helter skelter shots, which give a fabulous energy and tense finale, making me think of Orson Welles - Foster directed Journey Into Fear, so that's hardly surprising. Really good.