Bob Camardella Remembers"The Chase" (1946) Full Movie

 Bob Camardella Remembers "The Chase" (1946) Full Movie

 The Chase is a 1946 American film noir directed by Arthur Ripley. The screenplay by Philip Yordan is based on Cornell Woolrich's 1944 novel The Black Path of Fear. It stars Robert Cummings as Chuck Scott, a veteran who suffers from hallucinations. When he returns a lost wallet to violent mobster Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran), Eddie offers to hire him as a chauffeur. Chuck becomes mixed up in a plot to help Eddie's wife Lorna (Michèle Morgan) run off to Havana to escape her cruel husband.

Plot

Chuck Scott is a World War II veteran who is now a penniless drifter in Miami tormented by bizarre dreams. After finding a wallet and returning it to Eddie Roman, a vicious gangster, he is hired by Roman to be his driver. Roman tests his new driver, whom he nicknames Scotty, by assuming control of his car from the back seat. Scotty does not know that Roman has an accelerator in the rear passenger compartment. This bizarre trick unnerves Scotty and Roman's right-hand man Gino.
Roman reveals himself as a tough gangster by killing any competition, and is harsh and controlling with his wife, Lorna. She goes for a ride every night, and one day she asks driver Scotty to take her to Havana, Cuba in exchange for $1,000. He consents and realizes that he is in love with her. When they reach Havana, they stop for a drink at a club, where Lorna is stabbed to death.Scotty wakes in Miami on the night that he and Lorna are supposed to abscond to Havana. He is sweating profusely and immediately takes his pills, presumably prescribed to treat his posttraumatic stress disorder from battle. He remembers nothing, and visits the naval hospital to seek treatment from his doctor, Commander Davidson. Davidson urges him to try to remember why he was dressed as a driver, but Scotty is unable to do so. The two go drinking at the Florida Club.

Lorna is shocked that Scotty abruptly quit his job and departed earlier that night, and she is locked in her room after Roman discovers her writing a letter to Scotty. Roman and Gino go to the Florida Club to cool down, unknowingly sitting across the club, and behind a partition, from Scotty. Davidson realizes that the woman whom Scotty loves is Roman's wife, but by this time, Scotty remembers where he was supposed to be and leaves to find Lorna. He rescues her and they head for the port, but Gino and Roman are also heading to the port after they discover that Scotty was seen there buying tickets earlier that morning. With Roman using his master accelerator to push the car's speed to 100 mph, the car crashes into an oncoming train, killing both gangsters. Scotty and Lorna are now free to sail to Cuba and be together.
Cast
   Michèle Morgan
    Robert Cummings – Chuck Scott
    Michèle Morgan – Lorna Roman
    Steve Cochran – Eddie Roman
    Lloyd Corrigan – Emmerich Johnson
    Jack Holt – Cmdr. Davidson
    Peter Lorre – Gino
    Don Wilson – Fats
    Alexis Minotis – Lt. Acosta
    Nina Koshetz – Madame Chin
    Yolanda Lacca – Midnight
    James Westerfield – Job the Butler
    Jimmy Ames – The Killer

Production

The Black Path of Fear was published in 1944. The New York Times praised its "fiendishly ingenious plot and thrilling episodes."

Producer Seymour Nebenzal bought the rights to the story. In January 1946, he announced Phil Yordan, with whom he had made Whistle Stop, was writing the script.