A man walks into a club and finds his old Army compatriot, Peter Burden (Derek Farr) working behind the bar. Peter is a deserter and as this is post-War England that’s a bad thing to be. The man tries to blackmail Peter so he flees. We see him doing a series of odd jobs throughout the country before, desperate, he walks into a pawn shop looking to sell his Army revolver. Just as he takes the gun out of his coat, but before he can say anything a couple of actual armed robbers come in and beat the proprietor senseless. Before he dies the proprietor gives a description of the only robber not wearing a mask – our hero Peter.
As the police close in on him, a desperate Peter busts into the home of a widow named Jean Adams (Joan Hopkins). He promises not to hurt her, but begs her to let him stay. She being kindly and perhaps a bit lonely allows him overnight. While there he tells her his story and she believes him.
Together they begin searching for the two real burglars who can set the police straight and set him free.
Man On the Run is a terrific little British Noir. It doesn’t do anything new or amazing with the genre, but what it does do it does really well. During my month of watching Great British Cinema, I fell in love with this type of film.
The Brits were great at making this kind of tidy, nuts-and-bolts thriller. I don’t mean to say that there isn’t artistry to this film, because there is. The sets are fantastic, as is the camera placement, and the lighting all has that wonderful noir shadowy thing going for it. It mostly takes place in bars, police stations, and houses which gives it a claustrophobic feel. But it’s a film that doesn’t wow you with that stuff, it isn’t overloaded with style. It is a really good story told really well.
The relationship between Peter and Jean does develop a little too quickly. It is difficult to believe that she’s gonna fall for this man who just busted into her home, clearly running from the police. But that’s the movies and I didn’t mind. Both actors are quite good in it and they do make their love as believable as it can be. The thriller aspects are tightly wound and make their plight quite exciting.
It is surprisingly sympathetic the Peter’s plight as a deserter, something that was quite contentious and in the minds of its British audience at the time. He’s served four years as a soldier but when he requests some additional time off due to family members being deathly ill, his request is denied. He takes them anyway and is considered a deserter. The film puts the moral wrestling over this type of thing in the background, but the fact that it is there at all, and that it lends sympathy to a man (and men like him) who technically deserted is interesting.
The whole thing may be a little too Hitchockian for some but I found it be be delightful all the way through.
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