Pursuit
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Edwin L. Marin
Chester Morris
Sally Eilers
Scotty Beckett
Henry Travers
C. Henry Gordon
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mrs. McCoy, a widowed actress, fears that she will lose her young son Donald to wealthy relatives in an upcoming court battle. To prevent this from happening, she hires private detective Nick Shawn to spirit her son to Mexico, where she intends to meet up with him. Shawn assigns Maxine Bush to the task, and she in turn seeks the assistance of Mitchell, an aviator with experience in flying dangerous missions. Though Maxine offers Mitchell part of Mrs. McCoy's $2,000 reward for the safe deliverance of her child, he refuses to get involved in what he believes is a brazen act of kidnapping. While Maxine tries to persuade Mitchell to help her, Donald manages to climb into the cockpit and start the airplane down the runway. Mitchell chases after the airplane and boards it, but is unable to prevent it from coming to a crashing stop. The sound of approaching sirens prompts Mitchell to hide the boy in Maxine's car, which he buries under a mound of hay and loads onto the bed of his truck. Having eluded the detection of Hale's detectives, the agency commissioned to return the boy to his relatives in San Francisco, Mitchell unloads the car off the truck. When the hay surrounding the car catches fire, Mitchell extinguishes the flames by driving the car across a river. Mitchell does not stop to pick up Maxine, however, and continues down the road without her, believing that she wanted to join them only to chisel in on the reward. Angry, the stranded Maxine reports the theft of her car to a passing police officer, who takes her in pursuit of the stolen vehicle. Maxine, who wishes no harm to Mitchell or the boy and only wants to accompany them to Mexico, secretly empties the officer's gun of its bullets before they catch up with Mitchell and Donald. While Maxine handcuffs the arrested Mitchell, he manages to cuff himself to her and escape. Later, the handcuffed abductors hide Donald in the car and check into a roadside inn posing as an "inseparable" couple enjoying their honeymoon. When Maxine and Mitchell read newspaper headlines reporting that one hundred private detectives are scouring the state for the boy to receive a $20,000 reward, they disguise Donald as a girl and try to conceal him from Tom Reynolds, a paperhanger who is also staying at the inn and who begins meddling in their affairs. While Mitchell and Maxine argue, Donald slips away and runs to the ocean. After Mitchell saves the boy from drowning, Tom discovers the child's identity and goes after them. In the meantime, Mrs. McCoy and Shawn cross the border into Tijuana, where they plan to await the arrival of Donald. As Maxine and Mitchell approach the border, they realize that crossing at the checkpoint would be too conspicuous and decide to sneak through the barbed wire fence further away. However, when their attempt is thwarted by a border patrol officer, Maxine and Mitchell wait and cross without Donald. While they search for Mrs. McCoy in Tijuana, Tom finds Donald hidden in the brush on the other side of the border and abducts him. Tom only gets as far as a dog ranch, however, before Mitchell finds him. Mitchell and Tom scrap, and Mitchell takes off with Donald. Maxine and Mitchell arrive safely in Tijuana, where they find Mrs. McCoy. After trading cars with a black family and disguising themselves as blacks, they elude capture by Shawn and his detectives and Maxine and Mitchell embrace and kiss.
Director
Edwin L. Marin
Cast
Chester Morris
Sally Eilers
Scotty Beckett
Henry Travers
C. Henry Gordon
Dorothy Peterson
Granville Bates
Minor Watson
Harold Huber
Dewey Robinson
Erville Alderson
Eleanor Wesselhoeft
John Larkin
Sam Flint
Jim Toney
Frances Gregg
Jim Dundee
Marty Faust
George Regas
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The revised version of the story on which this film was based was titled "Gallant Highways." Hollywood Reporter pre-production news items noted that Jean Arthur was named as a tentative female lead, and that Charles Butterworth was to be cast in a role. Butterworth was also listed in early Hollywood Reporter production charts, but he did not appear in the released film. Hollywood Reporter pre-release news items listed Lee Phelps and William Gould in the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been determined. According to one Hollywood Reporter pre-release news item, M-G-M shot two days' worth of replacement scenes, fearing possible Hays Office censorship of scenes dealing with "kidnapping and the extreme cruelty by one of its characters." The Hollywood Reporter review lists Clyde DeVinna as the photographer, but his participation in the filming of this picture has not been determined. Pursuit was filmed partially on location in Laguna, CA.
