The Runaround
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Charles Lamont
Ella Raines
Rod Cameron
Broderick Crawford
Frank Mchugh
George Cleveland
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the Continental Detective Agency, detective Eddie Kildane informs general manager Louis Prentiss that he and fellow employee Wally Quayle are opening their own detective agency. Over the next few days, Eddie waits desperately for clients, and when he overhears Louis' secretary tell him that wealthy client Norman Hampton is waiting for him, Eddie races to Hampton's to steal the job from Louis. Hampton offers him $15,000 to retrieve his daughter Penelope, who has run off to marry a sailor named Mike O'Reagan. When Louis arrives, Hampton encourages the two detectives to compete for the reward. Eddie begins by discovering Penelope has left for San Francisco, but immediately after he buys a seat on the plane, Louis arrives at the airport and buys the one next to him. During a layover, Eddie hears Louis arranging to have fake policemen arrest him in San Francisco and drive him out of town. When the plane lands, Eddie informs the fake cops that Louis is named Eddie and watches them arrest Louis, who soon escapes. Eddie then finds Penelope in an airport coffee shop, and convinces her to leave with him in Louis' car by telling her he is a friend of Mike's, sent to rescue her from Louis, her father's private detective. Once in the car, she discovers his true identity, but he points out that as she left in a stolen car, she must drive back to New York with him or be arrested. In Chicago, the two board a train, and as soon as the train stops in Omaha, Louis is there to grab her. Eddie manages to convince a fleet of cabbies to chase Louis by telling them that Louis is a jealous brother trying to keep him away from his wife, Penelope. The cabbies chase and surround Louis until Eddie can grab Penelope, but once they reach the airport, Louis abducts Eddie and brings him to a shack. There, Eddie fights off Louis and his henchmen, finally tricking them into following a false lead. The henchmen knock Eddie unconscious but when he awakes, he discovers Feenan, one of the cabbies, has rescued him and that Penelope is nursing his wound. After buying an old jalopy, the couple leaves for New York, and along the way, picks up a stranded honeymooning couple, Hubert and Baby Willis. Stopping at a hotel in Pennsylvania, Eddie hears Willis informing Louis of their whereabouts, and immediately grabs Penelope and leaves in the pouring rain. As they race off, the car flips over, and when Penelope pretends to be hurt, Eddie holds her tightly to him. Soon, they are picked up by some movers, and inside the van she flirts with him until he kisses her. At their hotel the next morning, Louis' men abduct Penelope, but Eddie beats up Louis and races after her. When he catches up with her just before they reach the Hampton mansion, he declares that as they come from two different worlds, they never can be together. Inside the house, however, Hampton reveals that Penelope is actually his secretary, Annabelle, a decoy whose assignment was to distract his wife with a chase while he secretly spirited Penelope away to California to be married to Mike. Without waiting to collect his fee, Eddie follows Annabelle into the garden and kisses her.
Director
Charles Lamont
Cast
Ella Raines
Rod Cameron
Broderick Crawford
Frank Mchugh
George Cleveland
Joan Fulton
Samuel S. Hinds
Joe Sawyer
Nana Bryant
Dave Willock
Charles Coleman
Jack Overman
Beatrice Roberts
Ray Teal
Norman Leavitt
Wally Scott
Dorothy Granger
Ferris Taylor
Eddie Dunn
Jimmy Dodd
Ralph Montgomery
Jack Rice
Roseanne Murray
Billy Newell
Harold Goodwin
Pamela Blake
Virginia Wave
Shirley O'hara
Ralph Brooks
Wendy Howard
Bert Moorhouse
Jimmy Clark
Jean Carlin
Rodney Bell
Chuck Hamilton
Joe Haworth
Emmett Vogan
Bob Alden
George Bunny
Beatrice Gray
Al Thompson
Emmett Smith
Fred "snowflake" Toones
Billy Vernon
Ann Lawrence
Walter Lawrence
Crew
Travis Banton
Bernard B. Brown
Charles Carroll
Robert Clatworthy
Monty Collins
Edward Colman
Carmen Dirigo
Russell A. Gausman
Joe Gershenson
Nanette Grant
Sam Hellman
Arthur T. Horman
Arthur T. Horman
D. S. Horsley
Jean Kenney
Ted J. Kent
Jack Otterson
Jack P. Pierce
Ronald K. Pierce
E. R. Robinson
George Robinson
Frank Skinner
William Tummell
Walter Wise
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was Broderick Crawford's first after a three-year tour of duty in the Army. Hollywood Reporter news items state that Jane Adams was part of the original cast, although she did not appear in the final film. Some scenes were shot on location in San Francisco. While the plot of The Runaround strongly resembles that of Columbia's It Happened One Night (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.2181), no credit is given to the earlier film.
