Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A troubled ex-serviceman gets a job with a crime boss and his disturbed wife.A 'find' for me and perhaps for other fans of noir. The 80-minutes are a perfect blend of dark visuals and surreal story. Frankly, when I think noir, I don't think Bob Cummings, an excellent light comedy actor, but hardly a figure of depth. But here, he essays the role of the troubled vet in subtle and persuasive ways. The nightclub scenes in Havana are particularly revealing, as the chaotic gaiety swirls around Scott (Cummings) and his spacey lover Lorna (Morgan)—a perfect metaphor for their circumstance.A number of touches make this a memorable film. Casting Lorre as Gino was a coup, since his quietly devilish imp casts a background shadow over the proceedings. That's significant because Cochran, the alleged crime boss, comes across as a rather charming fellow even if he's behind dark deeds. Then there's that scene in the wine cellar, unlike any I've seen, and shrewdly abbreviated to catch the imagination. Also, catch Lorna's cameo framing through the porthole with shadows rising and falling over her face, as her nature itself migrates between light and dark. Add to the mix a speeding locomotive as the hand of fate, and a weirdly backseat driver that really is a backseat driver, and you've got an appropriately noirish race against time. And, of course, mustn't leave out the final scene so perfectly calibrated to end the film on a provocatively surreal note. The movie's full of such imaginative twists and turns as penned by two of the best in the business, Woolrich and Yordan. I'm not sure why the movie's generally overlooked in the noir canon, perhaps because of Bob Cummings and his lightweight reputation, plus the lack of a true spider woman. Nonetheless, it's a provocative little gem, and one that prompts rare second thoughts long after the screen has gone dark.

The Chase finds Robert Cummings as a down on his luck veteran who finds a wallet with $81.00 in it. This was the opening gambit of the Bing Crosby musical Double Or Nothing where he is one of only four people who return a wallet with $100.00 in it. But this is for real and Cummings shortly has reason to think he'd be better off to have kept the money.Instead all Bob does is get a meal and return the wallet with $79.50 to gangster Steve Cochran who lives in a nice palatial estate with French born wife Michelle Morgan. Cochran if not impressed is intrigued by his honesty and hires him. After that Cummings gets enough knowledge to know that this is not a guy he'd like to be working with. A lot of people seem to be intrigued by the false ending where it is discovered Cummings has dreamed it all and winds up in the helpful hands of Navy psychiatrist Jack Holt for help. For myself I don't think it added all that much to what was an already interesting film.Cummings, Morgan, Cochran and Peter Lorre who plays Cochran's number 2 guy all give interesting performances. Lorre is as ruthless as Cochran if not quite as psychotic. As for Cochran he's the ultimate backseat driver who for amusement has some controls built into the rear passenger seats so he can take over driving from the chauffeur, something that startled Cummings and would startle just about anyone else. Of course you can't see the road all that well and that's something Cochran will regret.This independent United Artists film doesn't get the plaudits from me that it does from others. Still more than fans of the principal players should like it.

When a recently made film attempts (often beautifully) to recreate the visual reality of bygone eras it can drag me out of the fiction and into a different state of mind, somewhere between involvement in the story and contemplation of the production methods. Now that I've become aware of that problem, I am now similarly affected by films actually made contemporaneously - of and in those past eras. Unwanted sophistication I would call it. As The Chase opens and Bob Cummings looks hungrily through the glass front of a 1940's diner I'm transported right back into my living room, sitting in front of a digital video setup. But, there are compensations.Bob Cummings has reality. He can't shoot twenty rounds from a six shooter without reloading; he doesn't defeat five or more heavies in a last reel triumph and walk away unscathed OR over dramatically bloodied; and he's just not a wise guy. Considering the way Hollywood created gangsters and heroes to fit popular expectations and credulity, despite that gross limitation, this film comes across as a dramatic story that could happen to someone. And, the de rigueur comic relief that we've learned to accept as de rigged up drama is wonderfully absent.One other minor distraction that marred the film for me, and probably wouldn't for anyone else: When the story moves to a Havana cabaret the music, a solo flamenco guitarist, is almost certainly Jeronimo Villarino - I could be wrong, but I'd bet on it. I could hardly keep up with the dialog as I studied the scenes for a glimpse of him. Maybe it was just recorded and Villarino wasn't present during filming. As far as I know no films exist of him playing. The guitarist is not credited.So, I was involved in the story. I wanted to be there because the bad guys were bad, the hero might be the eternally longed for true friend, the femme fatale was a real woman laboring under the oppressive sex role that made women desirable and mysteriously evocative as a captive piece of coral in a glass paperweight. The gangsters car smelled of ethyl gas and brake fluid and didn't have any integrated circuits, and we escaped from the cynicism of the bad guys' domain into a hopeful future filled with light - which noir implies.

A Navy psychiatrist diagnoses Bob Cummings as having "an anxiety neurosis." After half an hour I thought I'd caught it too.Cummings gets a job as chauffeur for the biggest gangster in Miami, Steve Cochran, and his henchman, Peter Lorre. Cochran has a lonely wife, Michele Morgan, and Cummings drives her around frequently. She loves to stop at the beach and gaze at the sea and talks about Cuba being over the horizon. Before you know it, Cummings has secretly bought tickets to Havana for the two of them, who have now become lovers. They sneak away. Later, after they've landed in Havana, Cummings and Morgan dance at a night club and she is stabbed in the back and killed by a stranger. The Cuban police believe that Cummings killed her with a knife he bought earlier that evening. Cummings escapes and there is a chase through the dark shadows of a studio Havana, with Cummings bumping into various people who help him or betray him. This frenetic chase lasts about 15 or 20 minutes.Dissolve from a dark and confusing shot of a body being dumped into the water. Slowly focus in on Cummings waking up back in Miami, still dressed in his chauffeur's uniform. He hurriedly gulps some pills and seeks out a Navy doctor he knows. The doctor is a strange guy. He tells Cummings that he has an anxiety neurosis but he also just happens to be on quite friendly terms with Cochran and his wife. He disappears hurriedly from the plot, leaving us to wonder just how many plots there are.Cummings and Morgan buy the two tickets (again) and rush for the ship to Havana. Cochran and Lorre pursue them but are killed in a car crash. Cummings and Morgan reach Havana and live happily ever after.Anyone who can make sense out of this mish-mash must be popping the same pills as Cummings. I thought seriously that the reels had been mixed up.It simply makes no sense. When the police arrest Cummings for Morgan's murder, for instance, a great deal is made of the fact that she was stabbed with the knife that Cummings had bought earlier, a knife with a monkey on the handle, covering its eyes. The cops take him to the shop where he claims to have bought the knife but the shopkeeper claims he bought the knife that was used in the murder, a knife with a monkey on the handle, covering its EARS.But this is the first time we've heard anything about Cummings having bought a knife, let alone one with a monkey on its handle. Instead of being a surprise or a puzzle, it's a conundrum. When the hell did he buy the knife? If it's so important, why was the purchase left out of the film? That's just one of an infinite variety of elisions. I won't bother with the rest.There's another thing that troubled me a little? What is the definition of "film noir"? This is consistently referred to as a "noir" -- but why? Because it's in black and white? Because it has a murder or two in it? Because there are several scenes that are shot at night? Because there's an illicit love affair? Well then Charlie Chan appeared in a lot of "noirs" too.The definition needs to be less expansive, and should include only core elements like jagged camera angles, odd lighting, and a general sense of corruption and despair. What "The Chase" is, is a crime melodrama with romance powering the plot.And it's a routine film at that, even without the mixed reels, designed to fit at the bottom of a double feature. The dialog has no sparkle, except perhaps for one exchange -- "What do you think it means?" "I'd say she was contemplating a voyage." None of the acting is particularly good. (Lorre seems to be sleepwalking and Cochran is subdued and Cummings is much better at comedy. Michelle Morgan probably is the most interesting character, with her bony, asymmetrical features.) Don't waste your time with this.