Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Spikeopath 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 film's 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

wes-connors 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

sethlistens When a recently made film attempts (often beautifully) to recreate the visual reality of bygone eras it can drag me out of the fiction and into a different state of mind, somewhere between involvement in the story and contemplation of the production methods. Now that I've become aware of that problem, I am now similarly affected by films actually made contemporaneously - of and in those past eras. Unwanted sophistication I would call it. As The Chase opens and Bob Cummings looks hungrily through the glass front of a 1940's diner I'm transported right back into my living room, sitting in front of a digital video setup. But, there are compensations.Bob Cummings has reality. He can't shoot twenty rounds from a six shooter without reloading; he doesn't defeat five or more heavies in a last reel triumph and walk away unscathed OR over dramatically bloodied; and he's just not a wise guy. Considering the way Hollywood created gangsters and heroes to fit popular expectations and credulity, despite that gross limitation, this film comes across as a dramatic story that could happen to someone. And, the de rigueur comic relief that we've learned to accept as de rigged up drama is wonderfully absent.One other minor distraction that marred the film for me, and probably wouldn't for anyone else: When the story moves to a Havana cabaret the music, a solo flamenco guitarist, is almost certainly Jeronimo Villarino - I could be wrong, but I'd bet on it. I could hardly keep up with the dialog as I studied the scenes for a glimpse of him. Maybe it was just recorded and Villarino wasn't present during filming. As far as I know no films exist of him playing. The guitarist is not credited.So, I was involved in the story. I wanted to be there because the bad guys were bad, the hero might be the eternally longed for true friend, the femme fatale was a real woman laboring under the oppressive sex role that made women desirable and mysteriously evocative as a captive piece of coral in a glass paperweight. The gangsters car smelled of ethyl gas and brake fluid and didn't have any integrated circuits, and we escaped from the cynicism of the bad guys' domain into a hopeful future filled with light - which noir implies.

Robert J. Maxwell A Navy psychiatrist diagnoses Bob Cummings as having "an anxiety neurosis." After half an hour I thought I'd caught it too.Cummings gets a job as chauffeur for the biggest gangster in Miami, Steve Cochran, and his henchman, Peter Lorre. Cochran has a lonely wife, Michele Morgan, and Cummings drives her around frequently. She loves to stop at the beach and gaze at the sea and talks about Cuba being over the horizon. Before you know it, Cummings has secretly bought tickets to Havana for the two of them, who have now become lovers. They sneak away. Later, after they've landed in Havana, Cummings and Morgan dance at a night club and she is stabbed in the back and killed by a stranger. The Cuban police believe that Cummings killed her with a knife he bought earlier that evening. Cummings escapes and there is a chase through the dark shadows of a studio Havana, with Cummings bumping into various people who help him or betray him. This frenetic chase lasts about 15 or 20 minutes.Dissolve from a dark and confusing shot of a body being dumped into the water. Slowly focus in on Cummings waking up back in Miami, still dressed in his chauffeur's uniform. He hurriedly gulps some pills and seeks out a Navy doctor he knows. The doctor is a strange guy. He tells Cummings that he has an anxiety neurosis but he also just happens to be on quite friendly terms with Cochran and his wife. He disappears hurriedly from the plot, leaving us to wonder just how many plots there are.Cummings and Morgan buy the two tickets (again) and rush for the ship to Havana. Cochran and Lorre pursue them but are killed in a car crash. Cummings and Morgan reach Havana and live happily ever after.Anyone who can make sense out of this mish-mash must be popping the same pills as Cummings. I thought seriously that the reels had been mixed up.It simply makes no sense. When the police arrest Cummings for Morgan's murder, for instance, a great deal is made of the fact that she was stabbed with the knife that Cummings had bought earlier, a knife with a monkey on the handle, covering its eyes. The cops take him to the shop where he claims to have bought the knife but the shopkeeper claims he bought the knife that was used in the murder, a knife with a monkey on the handle, covering its EARS.But this is the first time we've heard anything about Cummings having bought a knife, let alone one with a monkey on its handle. Instead of being a surprise or a puzzle, it's a conundrum. When the hell did he buy the knife? If it's so important, why was the purchase left out of the film? That's just one of an infinite variety of elisions. I won't bother with the rest.There's another thing that troubled me a little? What is the definition of "film noir"? This is consistently referred to as a "noir" -- but why? Because it's in black and white? Because it has a murder or two in it? Because there are several scenes that are shot at night? Because there's an illicit love affair? Well then Charlie Chan appeared in a lot of "noirs" too.The definition needs to be less expansive, and should include only core elements like jagged camera angles, odd lighting, and a general sense of corruption and despair. What "The Chase" is, is a crime melodrama with romance powering the plot.And it's a routine film at that, even without the mixed reels, designed to fit at the bottom of a double feature. The dialog has no sparkle, except perhaps for one exchange -- "What do you think it means?" "I'd say she was contemplating a voyage." None of the acting is particularly good. (Lorre seems to be sleepwalking and Cochran is subdued and Cummings is much better at comedy. Michelle Morgan probably is the most interesting character, with her bony, asymmetrical features.) Don't waste your time with this.