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5.2/10 • 9

1957-04-021h 19m

DramaThriller

Are mental patients turned loose too soon?

A mental patient with a violent past is released from the institution, against the advice of his doctors, and sent back to his old neighborhood. Was he released too soon?

Directors
Abner Biberman
Editors
Albrecht Joseph

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Ray Danton

    Ray Danton

    Roy Turner

  2. Colleen Miller

    Colleen Miller

    Susan Mayes

  3. Merry Anders

    Merry Anders

    Amy Hansen

  4. Willis Bouchey

    Willis Bouchey

    Loren Mayes

  5. Harry Jackson

    Harry Jackson

    Hank Hansen

  6. Robert Anderson

    Robert Anderson

    Ed Wallace

  7. Jean Inness

    Jean Inness

    Miss Dodd

  8. Eddy Waller

    Eddy Waller

    Vernon

  9. John Stephenson

    John Stephenson

    Dr. Crawford

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Nov 13, 2023

6/10

I can't say I am too familiar with Ray Danton, but his dashing good looks and considered performance go some way to keeping this sad and complicated melodrama out of the doldrums. We know from the start that he has been released from a psychiatric hospital (initially against the advice of his doctor who was rather brow-beaten into changing his mind by his board colleagues). It is fairly clear that this man, "Roy", is prone to less lucid moments and his past does limit his opportunities in his new, bustling, environment. "Roy" takes a bus up the coast and along the way alights at a garage where he quite quickly befriends "Hank" (Harry Jackson) and "Amy" (Merry Anders) and decides to take a chalet at a local motel. This is where he encounters "Susan" (Colleen Miller) who's the daughter of the owner "Loren" (Willis Bouchey). There are definite sparks between the young couple, and soon they are all but courting with their friends from the garage. A letter arrives and is read by the father that could change all this - it details the nature of the illness and causes him to lose his temper with his visitor and a rather calculated red mist descends... This is quite a savage indictment of the treatment of mentally ill people who are released, ill-equipped and with no ongoing treatment plan, into a society that is equally ill-equipped to deal with people requiring understanding, tolerance and compassion. At times "Roy" is like a young child exposed to an adult environment where emotions are running high (even when they are not) and Danton plays that character quite effectively. Miller provides for quite a decent foil too and the writing and direction leave much of the man's increasingly overwhelming predicament to our imagination. It is terribly over-scored, far too much heavy and loud music to create a tension that is doing fine by itself, and the pace isn't always the best but otherwise this is a surprisingly thought-provoking low-budget drama that is certainly worth a watch.

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  • The Night Runner poster
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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
murdermental patientmental illness