Noir Alley: Eddie Muller on The Hunted (1948)

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) I Want You To Meet Someone

Warming to his ex-girlfriend Laura (Belita) who’s been paroled for several weeks now, after serving four years for the robbery conviction for which he busted her, and which she never admitted-to, cop Johnny (Preston Foster) at the beach, and checking one last possible witness, an ex-con (Larry Blake), in The Hunted, 1948.

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Why Else Do Guys Drink?

Having just helped his now-paroled ex-girlfriend, whom he sent to jail, and who maintains her innocence, find a new job, cop Johnny (Preston Foster) drops in on barkeep Joe (George Chandler), who remembers the case, in The Hunted, 1948, from director Jack Bernhard and writer Steve Fisher.

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Lovely, But Still A Liar

Still inquiring about his ex-girlfriend, for whom he’s just found a job, after she spent four years in prison, for a crime she claims she didn’t commit, and for which he sent her up, cop Johnny (Preston Foster) visits her lawyer Rand (Pierre Watkin), who, like him, she once swore to kill, in The Hunted, 1948.

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Laura Mead

The only Olympic quality ice skating performance in any legit Film Noir, one-time United Kingdom skater Belita as recently paroled “Laura Mead” on a Los Angeles rink between periods at a hockey game, Preston Foster as cop Johnny Saxon, her erstwhile boyfriend, in director Jack Bernhard’s The Hunted, 1948, from Steve Fisher’s story and screenplay.

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) This Case Had A Queer Twist

Cracking opening, from the last frame of credits, cop Johnny (Preston Foster) at a Los Angeles bus station, tracking (we’ll learn) Belita as paroled Laura, then meeting with ladies’ parole officer Miss Turner (Edna Holland), in The Hunted, 1948, from Allied Artists and director Jack Bernhard.

Hunted, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) I Promised To Kill You

Something of a high-wire act, Preston Foster as cop Johnny, Belita as Laura, his ex-girlfriend, paroled that evening, after serving four years for a robbery, for which he arrested her, though she’s never admitted any guilt, and did swear to kill him, having broken into his apartment, all in one take, in The Hunted, 1948.