"The Night Runner" is a 1957 American film noir drama directed by Abner Biberman, produced by Albert J. Cohen, and starring Ray Danton and Colleen Miller. Written by Gene Levitt, the screenplay follows a recently released mental patient who falls in love but struggles to control his violent impulses.
Synopsis:
A mental patient on leave from an asylum erupts in a psychopathic rage after a comment from his girlfriend's father.
Plot:
Roy Turner, a mental patient with a violent past, is prematurely released from a state mental hospital due to overcrowding. His psychiatrist advises him to avoid stressful situations. Realizing he cannot handle the pressures of big-city life, Roy moves to a beachside motel in a small coastal town in Southern California. There, he falls in love with Susan Mayes, the daughter of the motel's owner, Loren.
Things go well until Loren discovers the truth about Roy's hospitalization. One evening, while Susan is out, Loren confronts Roy, calling him a "lunatic" and demanding that he leave. Roy snaps and kills Loren. Initially, no evidence links Roy to the crime, and for a time, his relationship with Susan remains hopeful. They sell the motel and plan to move away together.
While packing, Susan finds a hotel registration card that could implicate Roy, though she is unaware of its significance. Excited by the potential clue to her father's killer, she shows it to Roy. Cornered, Roy suggests a walk on the beach, where he confesses to killing Loren and declares that he must now kill her. As he advances, Susan falls into the raging tide. Roy comes to his senses, rescues her, and takes her back to the motel, where he calls the police to turn himself in.
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Genre: (Drama).
Director: Abner Biberman.
Original Language: English.
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Licensed from: The Classical Hollywood Cinema Inc.
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