Girl on the Run
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Joseph Lee
Richard Coogan
Rosemary Pettit
Frank Albertson
Harry Bannister
Edith King
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Newspaper reporter Bill Martin is working on a story about a vice ring operating out of a visiting carnival when he learns that his editor, George Marsh, has been murdered and he is a prime suspect. Bill is determined to prove his innocence and, with his girl friend Janet, goes to the carnival, where he thinks the solution lies. Bill knows that local political boss Clay Reeves controls the police and judges, and suspects that he is involved in the vice ring with Blake, a dwarf, who operates the carnival. Janet fears Reeves, as she saw him leaving the building after Marsh was killed, and arranges with Lil, the woman who operates the carnival's girlie show and who has had a prior, unpleasant relationship with Reeves, to hide out at the carnival as a dancer. Later, Reeves shows up expecting Blake to pay him off, but instead Blake demands cash from Reeves in return for his silence. Meanwhile, as the police are searching the carnival for him, Bill slips into a boxing show and becomes involved with Hank, who offers "suckers" fifty dollars if they can last three rounds with his champ, Bat Milligan. Bat tells Bill to take a dive in the third, and although Bill, a former amateur boxer, performs well, Bat does beat him. After the bout, Bill meets Blake, who offers him a job as a permanent shill with the boxing show. With help from the other girls, Janet attempts to dance in the strip show, but leaves the stage when she spots Reeves. Later, after telling Janet that the police are looking for her and that he has hired Bill, Blake propositions her. Although Reeves and a police sergeant find Bill, Lil helps him to escape by sending all her girls out to knock over the officer. Reeves then shoots Lil in the shoulder and learns from the rejected Blake that Janet is in his trailer. Reeves, anxious to learn how much she knows, beats Janet, but Bill enters and knocks Reeves out. Blake and Hank then hide Bill under the stage. After a police officer arrests Janet and Lil, they find that he is sympathetic to their attempt to incriminate Reeves. Lil insists that Reeves is merely a stooge for someone else, and Bill manages to convince the officer that Reeves killed Marsh. Blake is about to take Lil to a doctor when Reeves reappears. After Blake pushes Lil out of harm's way and is hit by the bullet intended for her, Bill and the policeman grab Reeves. Before he dies, Blake confirms that Marsh was the power behind Reeves. Bill and Janet reunite.
Cast
Richard Coogan
Rosemary Pettit
Frank Albertson
Harry Bannister
Edith King
Charles Bollender
Renee De Milo
Joseph Sullivan
Mike O'dowd
John Krollers
Scott Hale
Valarie East
Roxanne
Karen Valo
Maria Mckenna
Goldie Saunders
Dorothy Westcott
Steve McQueen
Crew
Arthur J. Beckhard
Paul Hellner
Sidney Katz
David Lawrence
Victor Lukens
Karl Nelson
Robert Presnell Sr.
Charles Roche
Sol Roiseman
Milton Shiffman
Nettie Smith
Dorothy Westcott
Cedric Worth
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Most of the credits were missing from the print viewed, but were annotated from the film's pressbook. The film was shot in 1953 under the title The Hidden Woman and was reviewed in The Exhibitor in March 1954 under the title Honky Tonk Burlesque. It is possible that The Exhibitor mistakenly listed this film under the title of a different, then current release. The film May also have circulated under the title Carnival Girl. In a May 10, 1953 New York Times article, director Joseph Lee is listed as Joseph Lerner. The article states that the film's budget was $70,000 and includes Betty Garde in the cast. Her appearance in the completed film has not been confirmed. Girl on the Run marked the first screen appearance of actor Steve McQueen (1930-1980), who is seen briefly as the young man trying to ring the bell.
