HUNT THE MAN DOWN
US, 1950, 69 minutes, Black and white.
Gig Young, Mary Anderson, James Anderson, Willard Parker.
Directed by George Aichenbaum.
Hunt the Man Down is a neat little police investigation story, opening with a robbery in a diner and the dishwasher thwarting it but killing the assailant. It emerges that he was wanted for murder, arrested, found guilty but escaped 12 years earlier. He now has the public defender looking for him to prove his innocence, trying to track down the people he was associated with at the time of the murder.
Gig Young is the public defender, James Anderson the accused, playing it low key rather than loudly protesting his innocence. In tracking down the witnesses, there are complications with a blind war veteran, the death of the girl he loved, the wife of the murdered man and her new husband, a divorced couple, the man having links to LA organised crime. There is a twist at the end with the girl, believed dead, still alive – and still pulling the ropes and committing the murder. She is played by Cleo Moore.
It is the kind of plot that would be used in many television police series.
1. The title, expectations? The man accused of murder, his being found guilty, denials, caught up in a new episode, 12 years later?
2. Black-and-white photography, 1950s style? The touches of realism? City streets, police officers, mansions, apartments, the chases on the highway? The musical score?
3. The opening, the girl at the diner, being sweet on the dishwasher, his playing the piano, the attempted robbery, the flight, the assailant being killed? The man avoiding the newspapers, yet his photo on the front page, recognised by the prosecutor, determined to bring him to court again?
4. The public defender, his work, personality, going to his father, the veteran cop with one arm, inviting him to help him on the search of the witnesses? Their work together, the interest in tracking down the witnesses? And the father asking his son later for a job with him?
5. The accused telling his story, the flashbacks, going to the drink, spilling it, invited back to the party, playing the piano, the friendliness of the guests, Joan and her husband absent, his sudden return, paranoia, punching Richard, the gun, on the bed, Richard threatening him? The later news of his murder and the fingerprints on the gun?
6. The case, the collage of the witnesses, their lack of knowledge, surmising that he was the killer?
7. 1950, 12 years passing, finding the witnesses, the man on the street, the informants? Finding Maguire, with the woman, his being drunk, his pretending to pass out, phoning the gangster? The PD’s father, in the car, the pursuit, the shooting, the killing of Maguire? The theatrical agents, the information about Maguire’s wife, the puppet theatre, the wife and her work, and nerves, in an institution, the divorce? Her love for her husband?
8. Joan, the new marriage, going to visit, wealth, the hostile reception and the questions?
9. The blind veteran, his distinctive name, his talking and memories, Patricia, her being dead, the PD taking him to the cemetery, the false name on the grave, tracking down her roommate, the aunt and her son, their brutal reception? The girl herself, in the institution, her testimony?
10. The court case, the interrogations, the PD, the sudden arrival of the nervous girl, her talking, the revelation of Patricia in the witness box, her dress, change of name, the blind soldier and his dismay, her connection with the murdered man, the revelation of the story, her killing him? The killing of Maguire, the threat on his wife? The performance of the demented woman, her outburst leading the woman to confess?
11. Some reality holes in the plot – but holding the attention while on the screen?
