User reviews

The Chase is directed by Arthur Ripley and adapted to screenplay by Philip Yordan from the novel The Black Path of Fear written by Cornell Woolrich. It stars Robert Cummings, Steve Cochran, Michèle Morgan, Peter Lorre and Jack Holt. Music is by Michel Michelet and cinematography comes from Frank F. Planer. Plot finds Cummings as World War II veteran Chuck Scott, drifting and skint, he finds a wallet and returns it to the owner. The owner is one Eddie Roman (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 Chase is one of those films that fell in to the public domain, got a cult following in spite of the number of bad prints out there, and now arguably deserves a place on the must see list of film noir enthusiasts. Bad prints aside, The Chase deals in oppressive atmosphere and lives in the void caught between a dream and a nightmare. Ripley (Thunder Road 1958) crafts his whole film in a dream state, keeping it mostly nocturnal, he and photographer Franz Planer thrive on Woolrich's premise and use slow pacing and shadow play to smoother the characters. It feels stifling, odd even, but with a couple of tricks up his sleeve, Ripley garners maximum impact by disorientating the viewer for the wonderfully absurd ending. Some may call out cheat, others are likely to enjoy its Wellesian feel, either way it's certainly a film that can't be called dull.

Cummings is fine as the good guy suddenly finding his world shifting sideways in a blur of pills, sleep and perfume, while Morgan registers nicely - even if ultimately she's underused and often her character is just there to make a romantic point. Cochran, in only his second year of acting, is a dominating and frightening force as the handsome and oily Roman. It's a menacing portrayal of a character who slaps his women around and literally will stop at nothing to get his way. But even Cochran is trumped by yet another weasel turn from Lorre, standing on the side of his boss spitting flem as well as sarcastic quips, Lorre alone is enough to seek the film out for a viewing. Good secondary support comes from Jack Holt in an important small role.

It doesn't push any boundaries or hold up as being hugely influential in the film noir cycle. But it's a relevant piece of work in that cycle, and certainly recommended to those interested in dream like oppression. 7/10

This has a nice premise. It has some great bits, especially the car. The problem is in the motivations of a troubled mind. The dream sequence is a bit of cheating, in my eyes. It seems a little too easy to throw it in there and give the characters a second chance. Also, is the Cummings character just a little off his rocker as well. Anyway, there are wonderful camera angles, nice pacing, threat, psychosis and lots of other neat things that could have been just a little more compact. I love Peter Lorre's musings and victimization. He whines better than any actor in the history of film. He must know from one day to the next that his connection with the bad guy is going to cost him dearly somewhere down the line. Live for today, I guess.

This is an exciting film noir with good performances & a tough script by Woolrich (anytime you see his name associated with a movie, it's a sign of quality, even for low budget series like Robert Dix's "The Whistler"). Robert Cummings gives one of the best performances of his life, because he avoids all those "Love That Bob" clichés he used to do so well (but sometimes, so inappropriately). Steve Cochran is very menacing & very sick as a sadistic mobster who wants to control everyone & everything around him (wait til you see his car, it's really neat!). Peter Lorre is prime Lorre, in a menacing role as Cochran's henchman. Michele Morgan is suitable as Cochran's sultry wife. The plot is not new, we've seen it before (& after), about an unhappily married wife who uses a friend to escape her husband. But the story's done in an interesting way, with some unusual aspects to it. There's plenty of shadows & lots of the movie takes place at night. The Chase moves at fast pace for the first 50 minutes or so, then slows down to catch it's breath, & then speeds up again near the end. I rate it 8/10.

I like the film - it builds suspense. It might not be the best dramatic film noir on the market, but it's not a bad one. I've seen far worse films that are put in the film noir category. The Chase is standard crime stuff but has a charm and story of it's own.

Chuck Scott is an a war vet and an honest man. He returned a wallet to a man that lost it - impressed, the man hires Chuck as his chauffeur. Over a little bit of time, the man's wife talks Chuck into taking her away from her abusive husband and when the husband finds out he goes after them. It is dreamy as Chuck Scott is on the run and really unsure if his mind has become "unhinged" as his doctor put it. Chuck Scott was a war vet and his doctor seems to feel he is a clear case of PTSD. How much of this is a dream, how much is real, is it all a dream or did it really happen?

I didn't have a problem with the pacing of this film - seemed fine to me.

7/10

As a director Arthur Ripley only made six feature films but nothing in that short career quite prepares you for the gem that was "The Chase", which he made in 1946 and which Philip Yordan adapted from a Cornell Woolrich story. It's certainly bizarre, as down-on-his-luck Robert Cummings, (why Robert Cummings I keep asking myself), finds a wallet belonging to gangster Steve Cochran who, when he returns it, hires him as a chauffeur and that's when his troubles really begin, particularly when Cochran's frightened wife, Michele Morgan, asks him to help her get away from her husband.

Everything about this film is surprising and I just don't mean the plot. Cochran's a thug but he lives in a kitsch mansion filled with marble statues and he likes to listen to classical music while Cumming's a veteran who is also a dab hand on the piano. Perhaps the biggest surprise is just how good both these actors are. Being a gangster Cochran naturally has to have a henchman and as always Peter Lorre is superb in the part. About midway through you might start to get an idea in which direction this very strange movie is going and you may even be right...but on the other hand. Needless to say, "The Chase" has all but disappeared but if any film deserves cult status this is it. Unmissable.

The first time I saw this film, I was mesmerised by the moody cinematography, the perfect casting of all the players and the unexpected twists and turns of the plot. Similar to the Noir classics, DOUBLE INDEMNITY and OUT OF THE PAST, the hero (Robert Cummings) is drawn into a web of intrigue by a beautiful woman (Michele Morgan), but in this case she turns out to be a legitimate "dream walking." The film was even better the second time around, as I could savour the various clues sprinkled throughout. Even by today's standards, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre and their canine friend have to rank high among the screen's most vicious heavies. Vastly underrated, THE CHASE will set your heart a thumping! (According to the 2001 Maltin MOVIE & VIDEO GUIDE, it is now available on video)

Down-on-his-luck former soldier Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings) finds a wallet on the ground. After using $1.50 to buy breakfast, he decides to return the wallet and the rest of the cash to its owner who turns out to be ruthless gangster Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran). Gino (Peter Lorre) is his right hand man. Eddie decides to hire the honest soldier as his new driver. His wife Lorna is desperate to escape his control and runaway to Cuba. Chuck falls in love and agrees to take her. She's murdered and he's framed for it.

From that point in the story, the movie goes in a completely different way than I expected. The last act leaves me scratching my head. It's basically a sliding door scenario and I don't like it. The movie in my head is far superior and I can't excuse it out of the way. Quite frankly, I'm not even considering Bob Cummings as an actor. I don't know anything about him and I don't find him that charismatic. He doesn't jump off the screen. All in all, the movie is great up to the turn. I don't like the reveal of the perpetrator either. I was loving it until that point. It's almost a cheat.

A troubled ex-serviceman gets a job with a crime boss and his disturbed wife.

A 'find' for me and perhaps for other fans of noir. The 80-minutes are a perfect blend of dark visuals and surreal story. Frankly, when I think noir, I don't think Bob Cummings, an excellent light comedy actor, but hardly a figure of depth. But here, he essays the role of the troubled vet in subtle and persuasive ways. The nightclub scenes in Havana are particularly revealing, as the chaotic gaiety swirls around Scott (Cummings) and his spacey lover Lorna (Morgan)—a perfect metaphor for their circumstance.

A number of touches make this a memorable film. Casting Lorre as Gino was a coup, since his quietly devilish imp casts a background shadow over the proceedings. That's significant because Cochran, the alleged crime boss, comes across as a rather charming fellow even if he's behind dark deeds. Then there's that scene in the wine cellar, unlike any I've seen, and shrewdly abbreviated to catch the imagination. Also, catch Lorna's cameo framing through the porthole with shadows rising and falling over her face, as her nature itself migrates between light and dark. Add to the mix a speeding locomotive as the hand of fate, and a weirdly backseat driver that really is a backseat driver, and you've got an appropriately noirish race against time. And, of course, mustn't leave out the final scene so perfectly calibrated to end the film on a provocatively surreal note.

The movie's full of such imaginative twists and turns as penned by two of the best in the business, Woolrich and Yordan. I'm not sure why the movie's generally overlooked in the noir canon, perhaps because of Bob Cummings and his lightweight reputation, plus the lack of a true spider woman. Nonetheless, it's a provocative little gem, and one that prompts rare second thoughts long after the screen has gone dark.

The Plot.

Returning a lost wallet gains unemployed veteran Chuck Scott a job as chauffeur to Eddie Roman, a seeming gangster whose enemies have a way of meeting violent ends.

The job proves nerve-wracking, and soon Chuck finds himself pledged to help Eddie's lovely, fearful, prisoner-wife Lorna to escape.

The result leaves Chuck caught like a rat in a trap, vainly seeking a way out through dark streets.

But the real chase begins when the strange plot virtually starts all over again.

This seems to be a very intriguing film however my experience was marred by a really bad print that rendered the sound all garbled in spots.

Even so, i got into the plot.

Not sure why Peter Lorre is billed down the pike when he's pretty important to the film.

In all, it's a pretty good semi-film noir.

Based on material by the man who wrote the story on which 'Rear Window' was based; although director Arthur Ripley doesn't really seem to be taking it very seriously, this potboiler set in Havana is of considerable interest to students of Hitchcock since the plot closely resembles both 'Saboteur' and 'North by Northwest', with elements of both and even a conclusion involving model vehicles like that in 'Number Thirteen'.

Bob Cummings (who starred in the earlier film) gets top billing but is as usual rather a lightweight, and the film is really to be cherished for the presence of Steve Cochran as a blackguard who wears his homburg while having his nails done, Michelle Morgan (soon to return to Europe) and a still relatively slim Peter Lorre.

Arthur Ripley's The Chse is a strange and enjoyable film. The first thing of note is that, like many films of its time, it is economical; it takes us on a great ride in only 86 minutes ! Next is the cast. Robert Cummings, so great in Hitchcock's Saboteur and Dial M for Murder, is also great here. Michèle Morgon is excellent playing a very beautiful woman who is a prisoner in her own home; she radiates fear and vulnerability without a word. And real kudos go to Steve Cochran. He is outstanding as a gangster who transmits danger and menace every time he's on screen. Peter Lorre rounds out the cast and provides great color, as usual. Finally, the story - it is part melodrama and part thriller, and moves fast. I enjoyed it a lot, including the dream sequence, which is controversial among film buffs. Just remember - it's 1946 and lots of veterans have PTSD.

When you're the top gang-boss of the Miami-Havana circuit, the cops tend to look the other way, leaving you free to instal a dual-control gadget in the back of your car, to over-ride the chauffeur on a whim. Predictably, this leads to some fancy driving, to put it mildly, influencing the story more than somewhat.

The boss (Eddie) is played by Steve Cochran, only newly arrived in Hollywood, but carrying full conviction as the menacing villain, silent and sinister, eyes full of death, accompanied by Peter Lorre as the cynical henchman whom that tortured Hungarian was surely born to play.

The chauffeur (Scotty) is Bob Cummings, acting as a wartime sailor, discharged with 'anxiety neurosis' and reduced to the pavement life, gazing enviously through the window of a cheap café at those lucky folk who can afford a hot breakfast. By chance (and rather improbably), he notices a wallet someone has dropped, and virtuously delivers it to the address printed on a visiting-card inside the flap. Under scrutiny by a suspicious Lorre, he is admitted to the gangster's palace, where Eddie is seen violently chastising a couple of female staff, before asking the newcomer his business.

Scotty hands over the wallet, complete with 80 dollars, nervously confessing that he spent the other dollar in the café. For a moment, it looks as though this might have cost him his life, but Eddie decides that he's amused at the young man's honesty (even as Lorre mumbles his unflattering opinion of mere law-abiders), and duly appoints him as chauffeur.

There follows a rather speeded-up Lady Chatterley situation, with Eddie's lonely and neglected wife Lorna, played by Michèle Morgan, finding excuses to be driven to the beach by her new friend, and they plan to elope to Cuba.

This would be the moment for a few spoilers - if I even half-understood the plot, that is. As it is, I can only suggest that the later story deliberately leaves you baffled, in order to earn its mysterious label of 'Film Noir'. Cummings makes a poor job of pretending to play the piano to impress Morgan, but he and Morgan don't really have the chemistry anyway. The only surprisingly good performance is the humble shopkeeper in Havana played by Russian opera star Nina Koshetz. And at least Lorre and Cummings would have plenty to swap notes about at break-time, Lorre being a morphine addict and Cummings being a client of the same Dr. Feelgood as John F. Kennedy.

Aside from the fact that this movie is peopled with competent actors and sports some adequate film noir lighting effects, it is the bar-none stupidest and most confusing movie i have seen since "Mesa of Lost Women," which puts it way below such classics as "Child Bride of the Ozarks."

You can read other comments here, some of which will tell you that the film is "dreamlike," but that is hooey. It is just a mess, that's all. The ostensible hero -- let's just call him the lead player -- Scotty (Bob Cummings) is gulping prescription pills like candy and is hallucinating on all four cylinders by the time he falls in love with his crime-lord boss's wife, a suicidal maniac with tear-streaked cheeks and an affectless manner so turgid that to watch her emote is like watching glaciers melt. Meanwhile Peter Lorre, not up to the fab menace he projected in "Quicksand" with Mickey Rooney, is phoning in his usual Austrian criminal side-kick grimaces.

Why do we never see the buying of the knife? Why does Lorna change her dress from white to black between suicidal ideations? Why does Scotty's psych doc keep giving him all those happy pills? Did Gino shoot the Russian Chinese shop keeper or just walk away? How does the happy couple get their 2nd pair of tickets? Did Scotty know the cab driver in another lifetime or is he psychic and knew he'd meet him later? Were there any horses hitched to the cab at all? Was the boss as suicidal as his bride? Where does Scotty buy the newspaper about the last two deaths -- and how could it have been published in the middle of the night and then purchased on board a ship? Were there really 3 knives? Was the psych doctor a henchman of the crime lord? Why was this film so SLOW?

If you know the answers to these questions, you haven't watched this film -- because it leaves them all unanswered.