The 1950s continued the production of great noir film afloat beyond Hollywood. Hunted, also called The Stranger in Between, by Charles Crichton is a shining gem from Britain in this darkly genre.
The plot element of homelessness on account of some wrongdoing is common to both the lead characters here – Chris Lloyd (Dirk Bogarde) who is on the run from the law and little Robbie (Jon Whiteley) who is on the run from his abusive adoptive parents. They meet accidentally at the crime scene where Lloyd has just killed a man.
Noir movies portray a world of misunderstood situations, people, and places. Hunted has all those covered and in perfect symphony with the turns of the plot. Unlike horror movies where one is safe during daytime and darkness brings the terror, noir characters on the run from the law are safer at night while vulnerable by visibility in daylight – the case with Lloyd and Robbie. People trying to protect Robbie from Lloyd are the victims of misunderstanding just like the fugitive duo is the victim of their misunderstanding. Robbie’s stays at a motel and then at his brother’s both bring out the blindness of the people to see the harmless side of the criminal on the run, whether it’s the eyes of Mrs. Sykes (Kay Walsh) or his own brother Jack (Julian Somers).
The symbolism in the movie is nothing short of brilliant. Robbie would leave his teddy bear, his comfort animal, at the place of the violent killing as Lloyd becomes his new comfort companion while Robbie becomes the guardian of the little boy’s life at the same place where he just took a life. The presence of teddy bear at Lloyd’s crime scene would put the police on the track of the hunt for Lloyd to save Robbie, though the audience knows that Lloyd’s protection is actually keeping Robbie safe henceforth. In turn, Lloyd passes for being safe himself by appearing as a child’s guardian (or father figure).
Hunted ends as a story of redemption – the details of which better be left to the readers who haven’t watched the movie yet; aka spoiler spared. It’s cathartic and assuring.
Michael McCarthy and Jack Whittingham created a great screenplay that was masterfully executed into a timeless gem of noir by Crichton with pitch-perfect performances by Bogarde and Whiteley. Hunted represents the noir genre at its finest. No flick doctor could prescribe a better dose of darkness in its potential for inevitable enlightenment.
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045201/.
