Kid On The Run Movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            The idea for this post began several weeks ago.  Just another quiet evening at home,  where I was reading in the living room, and David was in the bedroom, watching TV.  When I eventually joined him, he told me he had been watching a movie he had taped off a channel that shows not so well known movies.  It turned out to be 1949's "The Window," where Bobby Driscoll plays a New York tenement kid who witnesses a murder by his upstairs neighbors, one of whom was played by Ruth Roman, at her round heels best.

                               If you would like to know more about "The Window," read my post on the film, dated November 17, 2016.

                                Of course, David had erased it, so I could not watch it!  Damn!

                                My interest revived, when I delved into researching the film again, I discovered that between 1949 and 1955, Hollywood had made a quartet of what are called "Kid On The Run" movies, often very noir-ish.  The framework is "The Window," in 1949 and "The Night Of The Hunter," in 1955.  But then there were two films I had never heard of, and which, now, I have just GOT to see.



                               The first one, made in 1950, is called "Shadow On The Wall," featuring one of the busiest, yet obscure, child stars of the 1950's, Gigi Perreau.  This might be her "A list" film.  But it never did for her what "The Window" did for Bobby Driscoll.

                                She plays a little girl named Susan Stirling.   Her father, David Stirling is played by Zachary Scott, and her stepmother, Celia, played by Kristine Miller.  But Celia is two timing David with a man, named Crane Weymouth, who turns out to be engaged to Celia's sister, Dell, played by Ann Sothern.

                                One night, Susan witnesses someone murdering her stepmother.  She is traumatized, placed in an institution, and all she remembers is seeing a "shadow on the wall."

                                 Oh, and future First Lady Nancy Regan plays the psychiatrist in the institution, where Susan has been placed.  The whole thing revolves around a doll the little girl has called "Cupid," which she treasures, and which the aforementioned shadow reminds her of.  This leads eventually to finding out who the killer is.

                                     This was back when the actress went by Nancy Davis!  She was no Bette!

                                    That's all I can tell you, girls, because I don't want to spoil it for you, and because I have never seen the film.  I better hurry, before David tapes it and erases it.

Now, the other film, made two years later, is called "Talk About A Stranger.  It stars George Murphy, famous for his dance atop the table, with Shirley Temple, in one of my favorite of her films, "Little Miss Broadway," in 1938.  This is the one I always wanted to do a stage version of, where I play Shirley's role.  I still do.

Also in this film is Nancy Davis.  These two play the parents of a young boy named Bud Fontaine, Jr.  Ironic, because Gray, though he had been in "The Day The Earth Stood Still," an A-list film, the year before, will forever be known, to Baby Boomers, as Bud Anderson, on "Father Knows Best."  

Kurt Kasznar, best known for originating the role of Max Detweiler in the original, Broadway production of "The Sound Of Music," back in 1959, plays Dr. Paul Mahler, who has an alias named Matlock--which has nothing to do  with the 1986 TV show, starring Andy Griffith.

What happens is the doctor moves into Bud's neighborhood, and, shortly thereafter, his  dog is poisoned.  Bud blames it on the doctor, and sets about a campaign of gossip and rumors--to convince everyone around him the man is a cold blooded killer.  He even goes so far as to vandalize a neighbor's oil tank, ruining the crops in the valley.  Eventually, Bud learns the dog was killed by eating poisoned meat, meant to ward off coyotes in the area.

Poor coyotes!  They are so cute!

But there is more to it than this.  Because the trailer I saw to this film suggests Gray is given a chance to give a dramatic, nuanced portrait, suggesting this is a story about a child who will eventually grow up and evolve into a serial killer.

As stated, I have not seen the film, but the trailer left me with this indelible impression!

I just hope all of us can see these overlooked films, sometime!

And what are you on the run from, darlings?????????????