That was an excellent one.

Really Surprised!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

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.

The Chase (l946) is one of several movies with this title, and if I believed in such things, I would speculate that the title is a curse. I didn't think it could possibly be worse than the turgid 1966 Marlin Brando movie ("I gotta go find Bubber...") of the same title, but it comes close.Have you ever had the following type of experience? You have just met someone who at first seems bright, interesting, and appealing -- let's say it is a member of the opposite sex you're hoping to put the charm on. Everything goes swimmingly at first, but the more you listen to this person, the more you realize that he or she is utterly mad, and now you are just looking for a way to extricate yourself from the conversation and run for cover. That's exactly what watching this movie is like.The requisite spoiler warning at the top, seems almost redundant, since this movie spoils itself with an unconvincing and confused plot hopelessly marred by the most dramatic, involved, and exciting sequence of the movie turning out to be a "dream" or a delusion of the major character. During this schizoid episode,the hero, played by Robert Cummings, imagines he has run away to Cuba with the gorgeous wife (Michele Morgan) of his gangster employer (Steve Chochran). Not long after they arrive in Havana the dame is stabbed to death in a bar, he is accused of the murder, runs from the police, and witnesses another brutal murder in a pawn shop. At this point he suddenly wakes up in his room back in the States, swallows a handful of pills and beats it over to the nearest military hospital to have a chat with his psychiatrist (Jack Holt). Turns out, the hero, a WWII veteran, is suffering from either a head injury or what is now called post-traumatic stress syndrome. Which it is, like much else in this movie, is not clear. There was never any warning this lengthy sequence, in which a major character was killed, was a dream. Nor was there any warning Cummings' character was prone to psychotic episodes, unless you count an early scene in which he is seen to be undramatically popping a couple of pills. Now the movie takes up where it left off before the "dream sequence" with the beautiful moll still alive and waiting to be swept away to Havana. This is cheating by the movie makers. Another reviewer stated that he thought at first a reel had been left out, and such an impression is perfectly understandable.The Chase is ultimately an unsatisfying, slow-moving (except for the irrelevant dream sequence), and uninspired. It was a waste of a talented cast, a lot of noir atmosphere, and what would probably been good cinematography if one had a well-restored DVD copy. Recommend only to the following types: 1) Hard drug trippers and down and dirty alcoholics. The confused, disconnected, unreal atmosphere may seem normal to you. 2) Peter Lorre cultists. As gangster Cochran's sinister, chain-smoking henchman, he gives one of his best and least hammy performances. 3) Wide-eyed, doctrinaire film class graduates who can be convinced any unconventional movie, no matter how silly and pointless, is "arty". 4) Die-hard fans of old black and whites, such as yours truly, who will watch almost anything from that golden era.

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.

Great cinematography. Excellent acting. Taut direction. But the plot is bizarre. Everything rolls along nicely until suddenly -- without any warning -- the plot morphs into something else. Same characters and location but completely different storyline. Weird and confusing as people who were killed in the previous section show up alive again... Nevertheless, the movie contains some terrific villains. Steve Cochran delivers a mesmerizing performance as a sadistic mobster and Peter Lorre is in top form as his cold-blooded, sinister sidekick. Michele Morgan is an edgy femme fatale and Bob Cummings delivers a convincing performance as the troubled hero.The cinematography is classic noir with beautifully composed shots in dark settings full of intrigue and menace. A particularly memorable scene is where the cops burst into a room in search of Cummings only to find a woman sobbing uncontrollably at a table. There is some sharp dialog and lush romantic music although the sound track is scratchy. The movie is flawed by the fractured plot but worth adding to your collection.