Open ClassicCINEMA
Back to the collection

OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 005

The Chase

194686 minUnited States
Film noir
Video edition
YouTube · Channel’s colorized edition
Original language
English
This copy runs
84:55
Subtitles
English

Languages and subtitles

Subtitles off by default

YouTube may apply your personal preferences. If needed, select your language under CC / Settings. YouTube controls playback availability, which may vary by region.

Synopsis

Returning a stranger's wallet earns a penniless veteran a job driving for a Miami gangster. The man's frightened wife asks the new chauffeur to help her flee to Havana, turning a simple act of honesty into a dangerous entanglement. Escape offers little certainty in a story where fear, memory and reality keep shifting.

Cast

DirectorsArthur Ripley

Inspirations

Philip Yordan adapted Cornell Woolrich's novel The Black Path of Fear. The film preserves the author's world of anxious outsiders and dangerous desire while reshaping the narrative into a disorienting mixture of crime story and nightmare.

Behind the scenes

The Production Code affected how the screenplay handled wrongdoing and its consequences. Dream framing and changes to the timing of events helped accommodate those restrictions. Casting disputes and an electrical workers' strike also disrupted the production.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

WikipediaInternet Archive

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.

Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

Audience rating

Loading ratings…

Keep exploring

Collection