Tonight's Movie: The Night Runner (1957) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Today it was time to wrap up viewing the final film in another Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema Collection!

This time around I watched THE NIGHT RUNNER (1957) from the Dark Side of Cinema XIII set. I previously reviewed the other two films in the set, SPY HUNT (1950) and STEP DOWN TO TERROR (1958), both of which I quite enjoyed.

THE NIGHT RUNNER was kind of an oddity, a sad little film about Roy Turner (Ray Danton), a violent schizophrenic who is released from a mental hospital prematurely due to overcrowding. Roy's doctor (John Stephenson) isn't sure he's ready for the outside world but has been pressured to approve Roy's release and hopes for the best.

Roy has difficulty handling typical daily pressures such as a job interview or crowded city streets. He boards a bus out of Los Angeles and heads up the coast, where he ends up at a quiet motel run by Susan Mayes (Colleen Miller) and her father Loren (Willis Bouchey).

Susan is attracted to handsome Roy, but her father is concerned about Roy being a wanderer who's none too happy to answer questions about his background. When Mr. Mayes figures out Roy's issue he kicks him out of the motel. It does not go well.

It's a rather sad 79 minutes, as it seems Roy may be destined for tragedy from the outset. I was hoping he could turn things around but from midway through the movie it's apparent that that will never happen, and the film was rather painful to watch from that point on, waiting for the final shoes to drop.

Danton and Miller are each nicely "ordinary" and believable as the young people, with Merry Anders and Harry Jackson adding some energy as local friends.

Miller, who also starred in STEP DOWN TO TERROR, isn't conventionally attractive but has an appealing "girl next door" quality. The viewer really feels for her when her life heads south.

Although I didn't particularly like this movie, it was an interesting film to try out, being rather different, and it's all to the good that Kino Lorber has made it available.

Hitchcock fans may be intrigued that the motel setting and mental health storyline have caused some to liken it to the later PSYCHO (1960), which I've never seen.

One of the things I did like about the film was that there are numerous scenes shot along the California coast. The black and white widescreen photography was by George Robinson. The film was directed by Abner Biberman.

The Blu-ray print and sound are both excellent. Disc extras consist of the trailer; two additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber; and a commentary track by Lee Gambin and Eloise Ross.

While THE NIGHT RUNNER is more of a curiosity, I liked both SPY HUNT and STEP DOWN TO TERROR and recommend this set for fans of minor crime films.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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