Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Woman in Hiding is directed by Michael Gordon and adapted to screenplay by Oscar Saul and Roy Huggins from a story by James Webb. It stars Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff and Peggy Dow. Music is by Milton Schwarzwald and cinematography by William H. Daniels.After the mysterious death of her father, a quickfire marriage to a hugely suspicious man, and an attempt on her life, Deborah Chandler Clark (Lupino) is forced to assume a new identity and go into hiding...No great shakes as regards the plot line, it's a standard woman in peril piece, where we the viewers know what's going on and only really await for what we hope is a punchy resolution to it all. However, overcoming the simplicity of formula, it's a film nicely constructed and performed, with plenty of suspense, tightly wound anticipation and some very pleasing visual accompaniments.Opening with a guarded voice over from Lupino''s character, mood is nicely set at noir influenced. From here we quickly get to know the principle players and are quickly on Deborah's side. Peril and emotional pain is never far away with Gordon (The Web) and ace photographer Daniels (The Naked City) complicit in mood enhancements. Cue a cabin at nighttime bathed in oppressive moonlight, shadowed window bars striking facial menace - and as Deborah's peril grows greater - an imposing staircase ripe for a dastardly deed, Then we hit the last quarter of film and the quality really shines through. A steam train at night is grand, a splendid setting, but that is just a precursor to the exciting denouement at the deserted mill of Deborah's birthright. Daniels excels, his photography straight out of a noir fever dream, all while the industrial churning of the mill machinery adds impetus to the thrilling conclusion.It needed more of a black heart as per outcome to be a definitive noir pic, but it comes safely recommended to noir enthusiasts regardless. 7/10

In 1949 Ida Lupino had collaborated on an original story "Not Wanted" but things didn't go to plan, the director became sick and Ida stepped in to finish it herself. After that she was happy to go over to Universal-International for the suspenser "Woman in Hiding" taken from a Saturday Evening Post serial "Fugitive From Terror" by James R. Webb. She also met Howard Duff, a radio ("Sam Spade") and stage actor who had been in movies since 1946. He had replaced Ronald Reagan who had fractured his thigh and he also became Ida's new husband.This thriller gets off to a top gear start over the credits when Ida Lupino as Deborah Clarke, attempts to drive down a steep mountain road in a car whose brakes have been disabled. When the car plunges into the river and all seems lost Deborah's voice over begins a flashback as she accuses the seemingly grieving husband, Seldon Clark (Stephen McNally) of murder!!!Deborah is going to New York as she is fed up with Seldon's inattentiveness and her father has no time for him either, he says he comes from a long line of people he has no reason to be proud of. But Seldon has a determined mania to build up his once prosperous family name and make it great again. On the morning of her departure word comes that her father has had a fatal fall from the factory and, not surprisingly, Seldon is there to pick up the pieces. When the couple arrive at their honeymoon cabin they are met by Patricia (Peggy Dow), Seldon's cast off mistress and the way he attacks her should make Deborah have second thoughts. It is a highly dramatic scene as she tells Deborah a few home truths about her upstanding husband, like why he had been inattentive to her early on and even raising suspicions about her father's death. Deborah manages to run to the car but almost too late she realises she is soon to become Seldon's second victim.Ida Lupino's intense displays of fright and fear really carry this movie off. There is a splendid scene in a stairwell. Deborah has met Keith Ramsey (Duff), a college man working at a magazine counter, and really begins to trust again. Unfortunately Keith has seen an ad in the paper where her husband is begging for information about his "poor deranged wife" and Deborah's erratic behaviour has Keith believing in Seldon's story. He telephones Seldon giving him Deborah's location and suddenly Seldon is there, in the middle of a salesmen's convention, cornering her in a lonely stairwell. It is really a thrilling scene as McNally proved in "Johnny Belinda" he could be an unspeakable villain and he really lets all stops out when he is trying to throw Deborah down the stairs. Another great scene involves the climax which takes place at night in her father's factory. Deborah is fleeing an ambulance which has been ordered to take her to the local mental hospital. She hopes that with Patricia's help (after all she did witness Seldon's treatment of her in the cabin) she will have enough evidence to put Seldon in prison, but Patricia is still not over her infatuation of him.Although Ida puts both McNally and Duff in the shade, beautiful Peggy Dow makes the most of her scenes as the deluded Patricia. Dow could have been a major star, she was beautiful and sultry and proved in this movie, only her second, that she could handle dramatic scenes with verve but within a year she had retired for married life.

This movie was going really good, and I do love Ida Lupino, but after Deborah flees her her husband on their honeymoon; it is a down hill mess. Everybody besides the husband thinks that she's dead, he goes to search for her to make sure that she actually is dead shortly after the "accident", he wants to make sure that she never tells about him having possibly murdered her father in order to marry her and get control of the mill. This is something that she learns from his supposedly ex-girlfriend on their honeymoon. What bugs me is that while he is searching the woods for her with his flashlight, she keeps getting up from her hiding spot and moving around and making noise. Can't she just wait until she's sure he's gone? Every time she steps on a branch he comes back to look again, but she keeps making noise! Obviously if Deborah had an ounce of sense she would go straight to the police when she's able, but it's just as obvious that she can't do that because then there would be no movie. Deborah is an idiot. She meets a man who works at a newspaper stand who is even stupider than she is. This guy eventually thinks he recognizes her from the newspaper articles that the husband had written up offering a big cash reward for her return; since they didn't find a body he can't rest until he's sure she won't be trouble. The newspaper guy follows Deborah around getting to know her, or at least the fake her otherwise known as Ann Carter. She's going to hide out until she can find the ex-girlfriend to corroborate her story about the husband being a murderer instead of going to the police! The nice newspaper guy thinks that he's helping by calling the reward number and telling the husband that Deborah is indeed alive and is mixed up and confused and needs help. What business is this of his? Why would you do that? It wasn't about the reward. So the husband finds Deborah and tries to kill her but fails. Finally Deborah tells newspaper guy that she's on the run from crazy husband and needs his help. What does he do? He calls the husband again and sets Deborah up! She thinks they are getting on a train to escape but the husband is waiting for her on the train, she has been hand delivered by the helpful newspaper guy; otherwise known as meddling idiot. Of course not shortly after newspaper guy realizes his mistake and tries to fix things. More nonsense ensues. The ex-girlfriend is now back with the husband and sets Deborah up to be killed at the mill. The ex-girlfriend is accidentally killed by boyfriend who thinks he's killing his wife. Then he kills his on self by accident. Every main character in this stupid movie deserved to die! How Deborah could take up with the newspaper guy in the end is beyond me, but Deborah is slow and stupid so I should not be surprised.

It's hard to go wrong with the great Ida Lupino. This thriller's no exception. Deborah's husband (McNally) is ungallantly trying to kill her so he can get his hands on the mill her dead father left her. But she crashes her car into a river trying to get away, and now everyone except hubby thinks she's dead. Cleverly, he offers big bucks to anyone with info on her whereabouts. So well-meaning Ramsey (Duff) thinks he's doing her a favor by contacting the husband with the info. What's a frightened Debbie to do since hubby is one mean, relentless dude.The movie may not be anything exceptional, but it's got its share of chills, especially the tangled mill scene. That sequence is very well directed for action, and I really like the unexpected wrinkle with Monahan (Dow). Then too, those boisterous conventioneer scenes add noisy color that also proves lucky for Debbie. The woman-in-danger part is one tailor made for the expert Lupino, and she makes it unusually convincing. McNally too, makes a persuasive menace, especially when he's beating the bushes while she cowers beneath. But I do think the script could have come up with a better angle for Debbie & Ramsey's first meet-up since that newsstand gig seems much too tame for a macho actor like Duff.Anyway, it's a super-slick production from Universal that gets a real lift from Lupino who would go on to film an even better woman-in-danger film the following year, Beware, My Lovely (1952).