The Chase (1946)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Let's not forget, folks, these noir pictures were churned out by the dozens by fast- buck studios eager to cash in on the latest trend with bargain basement actors and hackneyed scripts. In the case of The Chase, that adds up to an hour and a half of incomprehensible twaddle and ridiculous plot twists, all served up in an atmospheric stew of dark shadows and preposterous sets. If you can make it through the first ninety or so minutes, you'll be rewarded with some of the goofiest faces ever made by an actor, courtesy of Peter Lorre in his pre-Roger Corman days. But that's not all folks. You also get a veritable monument to coarse acting by Bob Cummings and Steve Cochran. Anyone who claims to be able to follow the plot is lying, because there isn't one. Three stars only because the over-the-top sets add a few minutes of sporadic interest. If you watch through to the end in hopes of figuring out what actually happened, trust me, you'll be as baffled at the end as you were at the start.

Robert Cummings finds himself up to his neck in trouble with a murderous Miami gangster in "Thunder Road" director Arthur Ripley's example of film noir "The Chase," co-starring Peter Lorre, Steve Cochran, Michèle Morgan, and Jack Holt. "The Chase" reminded me of an earlier Cummings' outing "The Saboteur" that the great Alfred Hitchcock directed for Universal during the early years of World War II. Meantime, "The Chase" qualifies as atmospheric opus that puts our hero in jeopardy early after he is hired to serve as a chauffeur for a well-dressed gangster who has few compunctions about liquidating anybody who interferes with his schemes. Philip Yordan penned his screenplay from Cornell Woolrich's novel "The Black Path of Fear" Altogether, "The Chase" is unlike anything that you've ever seen.Our woebegone hero, Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings of "Kings Row"), is standing in front of a short-order restaurant staring ravenously at an African-American cooking pancakes and sausage. Chuck is a former World War II sailor who received a medal. Nevertheless, when we lay eyes on him, he appears to be starved and in bad shape until he spots a wallet on the sidewalk that he has been standing on. This is the only flaw in the entire movie because neither Ripley nor Yordan explain how the wallet wound up where it does. Chuck picks the wallet, peers at the wad of cash sticking out of it, and without hesitation enters the diner and feasts on breakfast topped off with a cigar. He finds a name on the wallet and goes out to the address listed to return it to the owner. Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran of "White Heat") is a well-off gangster who can afford to have a barber and a nail technician come out to his residence and spruce him up. The manicurist accidentally hurts Roman, and he knocks her out of her chair, leaving a blood trail down her chin. Chuck shows up, and Roman's sleazy bodyguard, Gino (Peter Lorre of "The Maltese Falcon"), reluctantly ushers our protagonist into see Roman. Chuck's honesty in returning his wallet impresses Roman so much that the gangster fires his current chauffeur and replaces him with Chuck.Eddie Roman is as cold-blooded a gangster as you can imagine. He owns a mastiff, and he uses the colossal dog to kill a Havana-based shipping magnate, Emmerrich Johnson (Lloyd Corrigan of "Hitler's Children"), after the fellow refuses to sell him some of his ships. Roman and Gino lure Johnson into the wine cellar, lock him up, and let the dog tear him to pieces. While the dog is ripping the poor guy apart, director Arthur Ripley pans his camera away from the chaos and focuses on a smashed bottle that gurgles wine out onto the floor metaphorically like the guy's blood. Later, Johnson's death makes front page news. The newspapers report Johnson committed suicide by jumping into the ocean where he was gnawed to bits by barracuda. Roman's wife Lorna Roman (Michèle Morgan of "Passage to Marseille") convinces Scott to take her to Havana. No sooner have they arrived in Cuba than Lorna is stabbed in the back while dancing with our hero in a night club. Scott pulls the knife out and incriminates himself by extracting it. Miraculously, he manages to narrowly escape from the police. At this point, when everything that Chuck does seems to backfire on him, the unexpected happens. Depending on your perspective, you will either love or abhor this surprise twist of twists.Yordan and Ripley have done a masterful job with the Cornel Woolrich novel. They also done a great job of foreshadowing the demise of one of the chief characters. You'll definitely have to watch this one more than once to savor its wine.

The first thing you notice about this is the obvious miscasting of its leading man, Robert Cummings. He is totally unbelievable as a shell-shocked soldier who becomes the driver for an obvious gangster and ends up in an affair with his boss's wife. An almost dream-like trance has Cummings certain she was murdered but of course, things in film noir are never what they seem to be.You know that Cumming's boss, Steve Cochran, is involved in criminal activities because of how he deals with one of his associates (Lloyd Corrigan), the method extremely violent and cruel and filled with visual insinuations. You know that the man is doomed (being locked in a wine cellar with one of the last bottles of genuine Napoleon Brandy) but the method of his demise is wicked to the core, yet the motivations for it never fully explained.Michelle Morgan gives an almost empty-headed performance, staring off to into space as if on mind control drugs. The better female performance comes from Yolanda Lacca as the young Mexican lady who hides Cummings from the police. Peter Lorre is totally wasted as Cochran's right-hand man, reciting evil sounding lines and giving blank looks, while veteran character actor and "B" leading man Jack Holt is imperious as usual as a police inspector.This has the most convoluted of structures, one that you sometimes wonder if a reel was cut out involving pertinent plot points. The ending results will leave most viewers befuddled, even if the writers and director took a unique idea and ran it into the mud.

Despite being down-on-his-luck, shell-shocked ex-G.I. Robert Cummings (as Chuck Scott) finds a wallet filled with money and decides to do the right thing. After buying himself a quick breakfast, Mr. Cummings returns the wallet to crooked Florida businessman Steve Cochran (as Eddie Roman). Impressed by Cummings' honesty, Mr. Cochran thinks he would make a loyal employee, and hires him as chauffeur. There is, you should discern by now, something very wrong with Cummings and his judge of character...Fortunately, for bored movie fans, Cochran turns out to be a sadistic gangster, with an alluring wife and classic henchman. The former Michele Morgan (as Lorna) arouses Cummings with her inviting hourglass figure. The latter Peter Lorre (as Gino) laps after Cochran. Cummings downs his medication with beer, which seeps into a confused storyline. The film's nightmarish quality, Cochran's sinister impression, and the basic story fabric are most appreciated; but not everything goes according to plan. Worth a second look.****** The Chase (11/16/46) Arthur Ripley ~ Robert Cummings, Steve Cochran, Michele Morgan, Peter Lorre