HUNTED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 815, 11 March 1955, Page 21

HUNTED

(Rank-lIndependent) T’S a relief to turn from M. Clouzot’s piece to Hunted, another film of suspense, but this time warmly human in spite of having a man who has killed another as its hero. This is a crime of

passion: a young sailor (Dirk Bogarde) kills his wife’s wealthy lover. At the scene he encounters a small boy (Jon Whiteley) who has run away from his step-parents after setting fire to the curtains. From then on, in London and on a long flight north through the countryside, they stay together; and though it’s essentially a chase story its great humanity springs from the quality of the relationship that develops between the child and-as police and Press see him -the desperate "killer." At the end the film lies open to the future like a Chekhov short story, leaving our imagination something to work upon. Jon Whiteley, one of the child stars of The Kidnappers, is seen here in his first film (made when he was about six) in a truly wonderful performance; and Dirk Bogarde does what is probably his best job yet. The film moves through some first-class locations, with capable direction by Charles Crichton making the.most of the friendship between two unhappy people and maintaining the suspense at the same time. With something less brilliant to compare it with this week I would have been tempted to grade it higher. As it is, though its story makes it unsuitable for young children, it is a film I warmly recommend.