Woman in Hiding

source: Woman in Hiding

Moviecut—Woman in Hiding

Woman in Hiding

Woman in Hiding is a bit too much daytime drama level and doesn't really hold water, it's watchable. The biggest problem's Stephen McNally's character Selden Clark, he's one-note and overdone. Yet both these ladies fall in love with him, when he's the same throughout. Ida Lupino's fine, nothing moving. The characterization of Keith and the acting chops of Howard Duff are the highlight, but the character's one stupid action ruins it. She said she was attacked the day after he made the phone call and he didn't put two and two together and sets her up, it's just luck for that guy to run into him and say those things. It's also silly for her to go to Patricia Monahan for help. The ending's odd too.. why's this Monahan girl even going up there and Clark reacting like that.

This film is wound a bit too tight for its own good. Mostly because of the incredibly intense performance from Ida Lupino who manages to almost melt the screen. It is a relentless one-note onslaught of jangled nerves and jitters. What's needed here is a contrasting scene or two to let things settle a little. There are some good moments but the anxious anxiety quickly destroys the drama and we are off to the races once again. The hotel convention scene is almost unbearable in its loud and ridiculous rendering of a confrontational setup that is suppose to be suspenseful and claustrophobic. The ending looks ominous enough and the factory setting has a film-noir feel that is missing in most of the film and the subtlety of shadows would have been a welcome relief from the persistent, pulsating, and predictable performances.

To begin with I never liked noir genre and thankfully this movie has only got a small portion of it - all the rest consists of a gorgeous drama, chilling thriller and a romance that happened unintentionally and all the three genres perfectly blend together making it one of the best movies in its genre which is unfairly forgotten now. Ida Lupino is an absolute master and her stunning performance has been playing the first fiddle throughout the whole movie, not allowing us to leave it in peace. "Woman in hiding" keeps you guessing until the very end, it hints, gives clues to what might happen but you can never really be sure what exactly and this is the best thing about movies in general as an art. For me, unfortunately, this is a one-time movie as I don't really like paperthin storylines and no subtext but it was a brilliant ride anyway.

Excellent movie full of suspense ,action-packed story with first-class actress Ida Lupino -who directed herself an excellent film noir:"the hitch hiker" 1953. In the first minutes ,you do think that it's a corpse that is speaking and that the movie will be a long flashback ,à la "Sunset Blvd" .The flashback is actually relatively short and then begins a long chase .This is really an absorbing tale which involves stairs where you jump or where you're pushed ,trains running in the night to put you away,people you try to trust and who betray you,people who try to help you but might ruin you.All that makes a thriller exciting.Recommended