WOMAN ON THE RUN ***

This San Francisco set and shot B-Movie Noir may be no masterpiece but as B-Movie Noirs go, it's really a terrific example of its kind that wastes no time in getting down to business. Ross Elliot is the witness to a gangland murder. He calls the police but then goes on the lam, leaving the police, his hard-boiled wife (an excellent Ann Sheridan), and the killer to find him. In fact, this is just the kind of little programmer you will probably remember long after you've forgotten the main feature. The director was Norman Foster, no slouch at this sort of thing, and Hal Mohr did the superb noirish photography, mostly on location. The leading man is Dennis O'Keefe and he's very good and the supporting cast includes Robert Keith, John Qualen and Steven Geray. You can be forgiven if you haven't heard of it as the original print was destroyed but an existant third-rate print was recently restored by UCLA. Seek it out.