Too much of everything

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

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Woman in Hiding is directed by Michael Gordon and adapted to screenplay by Oscar Saul and Roy Huggins from a story by James Webb. It stars Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff and Peggy Dow. Music is by Milton Schwarzwald and cinematography by William H. Daniels.After the mysterious death of her father, a quickfire marriage to a hugely suspicious man, and an attempt on her life, Deborah Chandler Clark (Lupino) is forced to assume a new identity and go into hiding...No great shakes as regards the plot line, it's a standard woman in peril piece, where we the viewers know what's going on and only really await for what we hope is a punchy resolution to it all. However, overcoming the simplicity of formula, it's a film nicely constructed and performed, with plenty of suspense, tightly wound anticipation and some very pleasing visual accompaniments.Opening with a guarded voice over from Lupino''s character, mood is nicely set at noir influenced. From here we quickly get to know the principle players and are quickly on Deborah's side. Peril and emotional pain is never far away with Gordon (The Web) and ace photographer Daniels (The Naked City) complicit in mood enhancements. Cue a cabin at nighttime bathed in oppressive moonlight, shadowed window bars striking facial menace - and as Deborah's peril grows greater - an imposing staircase ripe for a dastardly deed, Then we hit the last quarter of film and the quality really shines through. A steam train at night is grand, a splendid setting, but that is just a precursor to the exciting denouement at the deserted mill of Deborah's birthright. Daniels excels, his photography straight out of a noir fever dream, all while the industrial churning of the mill machinery adds impetus to the thrilling conclusion.It needed more of a black heart as per outcome to be a definitive noir pic, but it comes safely recommended to noir enthusiasts regardless. 7/10

This movie was going really good, and I do love Ida Lupino, but after Deborah flees her her husband on their honeymoon; it is a down hill mess. Everybody besides the husband thinks that she's dead, he goes to search for her to make sure that she actually is dead shortly after the "accident", he wants to make sure that she never tells about him having possibly murdered her father in order to marry her and get control of the mill. This is something that she learns from his supposedly ex-girlfriend on their honeymoon. What bugs me is that while he is searching the woods for her with his flashlight, she keeps getting up from her hiding spot and moving around and making noise. Can't she just wait until she's sure he's gone? Every time she steps on a branch he comes back to look again, but she keeps making noise! Obviously if Deborah had an ounce of sense she would go straight to the police when she's able, but it's just as obvious that she can't do that because then there would be no movie. Deborah is an idiot. She meets a man who works at a newspaper stand who is even stupider than she is. This guy eventually thinks he recognizes her from the newspaper articles that the husband had written up offering a big cash reward for her return; since they didn't find a body he can't rest until he's sure she won't be trouble. The newspaper guy follows Deborah around getting to know her, or at least the fake her otherwise known as Ann Carter. She's going to hide out until she can find the ex-girlfriend to corroborate her story about the husband being a murderer instead of going to the police! The nice newspaper guy thinks that he's helping by calling the reward number and telling the husband that Deborah is indeed alive and is mixed up and confused and needs help. What business is this of his? Why would you do that? It wasn't about the reward. So the husband finds Deborah and tries to kill her but fails. Finally Deborah tells newspaper guy that she's on the run from crazy husband and needs his help. What does he do? He calls the husband again and sets Deborah up! She thinks they are getting on a train to escape but the husband is waiting for her on the train, she has been hand delivered by the helpful newspaper guy; otherwise known as meddling idiot. Of course not shortly after newspaper guy realizes his mistake and tries to fix things. More nonsense ensues. The ex-girlfriend is now back with the husband and sets Deborah up to be killed at the mill. The ex-girlfriend is accidentally killed by boyfriend who thinks he's killing his wife. Then he kills his on self by accident. Every main character in this stupid movie deserved to die! How Deborah could take up with the newspaper guy in the end is beyond me, but Deborah is slow and stupid so I should not be surprised.

As the opening credits roll, newly wedded Ida Lupino (as Deborah Chandler) desperately tries to stop herself from crashing her car. In an attempted murder, the brakes have been disabled. We see the car drive off a North Carolina bridge and listen to Ms. Lupino's ghostly narration. But don't assume she's dead, or that the accident ends the story… After the prologue fails to uncover a dead body, we begin earlier. Inheriting a profitable mill upon the subsequently suspicious death of her father, Lupino marries the plant's general manager Stephen McNally (as Selden Clark). Apparently, they were a long-term couple; the wedding is the first of several implausible story developments. Lupino asks, "Why didn't I see it?" Don't know...When they arrive at Mr. McNally's mountain cabin for a honeymoon, sexy Peggy Dow (as Patricia Monahan) is waiting. She reveals herself as McNally's "little business trips" lover and is understandably furious with Lupino's presence. After husband and lover smack each other around, Lupino decides she wants the marriage annulled, but McNally refuses. Lupino runs off, changes her name to "Ann Carter" and tries to hide from her homicidal husband. She meets handsome and helpful Howard Duff (as Keith Ramsey), but he isn't sure who is telling the truth. Beautiful black-and-white photography by William Daniels, effective direction from Michael Gordon and engaging performances make "Woman in Hiding" well worth following.******* Woman in Hiding (12/27/49) Michael Gordon ~ Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally, Peggy Dow

As in almost all of these suspenseful melodramas from the '50s, there are certain lapses in logic throughout WOMAN IN HIDING that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Some of the choices that Lupino makes as the vulnerable heroine are too foolhardy to be believable, but once the plot starts rolling there's no turning away.A particularly bad choice is the scene where she casually gets into a car with Peggy Dow, a scorned woman who is leading her into a trap which brings her right back to the man (Stephen McNally) she is hiding from at a dark and sinister mill.But despite such motivational flaws, the film manages to be a better than average melodrama with all three leads--Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally--giving expert performances.Most effective aspect is the tight pace of the story and the film noir look of the B&W photography. Ida Lupino gives another one of her tense performances as she gets caught up in the excessive manipulations of McNally who is intent on killing her to inherit her father's mill. Howard Duff tries to help once he understands her fears and from that point on the story leaps forward to a satisfying ending involving a trick later used to good effect in Joan Crawford's "Sudden Fear." Not a great film, but a satisfying "lady in distress" melodrama.