Female Fugitive (1938) User Reviews

Speedy little drama. What's not to like?

[King_man · 7/10 · 28 July 2016]

Take a perfect wife, an imperfect husband, and throw in a bit of murder and you have Female Fugitive. Evelyn Venable is beautiful, intelligent, loving, and unfortunately for her, oblivious. Husband Craig Reynolds is a truck hijacker to whom murder is just part of the job. Not exactly a match made in heaven as Ms. Venable comes to realize after unwittingly helping her husband escape the law at the expense of an officer's life. Splitting from her husband and going on the lam (uh, the title anyone?), she ends up in the household of reclusive, troubled artist Reed Hadley.

No surprises in this movie as 58 minutes doesn't provide a lot of time to develop plot turns. Everyone does a serviceable job and director Nigh keeps things moving if for no other reason than to keep within budget. I guess filming 100+ of these low budget films ingrains that in you. And for those looking for something different, it's not often you have a female lead spout Nietzsche when attacked by the philosophy of Schopenhauer. Some fun lines, fast pacing, and Ms. Venable playing a damsel in distress that anyone would fall for make this a decent little vehicle.

Good but not great crime drama

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 26 January 2008]

Woman who's husband runs a successful trucking company, which seemingly is untouched by a recent rash of hijackings plaguing his competitors, ends up on the run when the police show up on her door looking for two hijackers. Fleeing with her husband and his men she must work to get herself out of murder rap caused by the death of an cop in a shoot out.

Good but not great B crime drama hits all of the typical notes as the woman rapidly finds that she is in way over her head and now must fight to keep herself out of jail. This is the sort of thing I used to stumble upon on late night TV and got hooked on, staying to the end, usually with out ever finding out what you saw. It the sort of thing that keeps you interested as to whats going to happen next (probably the highest recommendation I can give). The cast is very good, including a young Reed Hadley as a romantic possibility for our heroine. If there is anything that works against the films success its that the script, its a bit too melodramatic at times (The expectant wife of the shot officer) and when the film is done you really don't want to see it again (nor do you really remember the previous hour). Still its worth a shot if you're in the mood for a non taxing thriller.

Fast moving, better than expected, crime drama.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 23 January 2012]

For a film of only an hour's length, a lot happens during that time. Evelyn Venable is the innocent wife of the head of a group of thieves that rob trucks. She finds out the hard way what her husband is really up to when he convinces her that the cops that are watching them are actually thieves who robbed HIS truck company. Accused of driving the get-away car which resulted in one of the policemen being killed, Venable eventually has enough and escapes, posing as the cook of a brooding artist (Craig Reynolds) whom she eventually falls in love with. The surviving police officer and her husband (presumed dead) see her portrait on the cover of a magazine and track her down.

A lot of snappy dialogue is well used to make this predictable plot move along. Venable makes a great heroine, while Reynolds does a good job as the hero. Things spruce up when an old flame of Reynolds (and her harpy mother) show up unannounced for a bit of old female bitchery. While the story is a bit preposterous, it all moves along at a nice speed and has many fun moments. Well worth catching.

Not all that bad considering it's from Crescent.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 February 2021]

Peggy and Jim seem to be a happily married young couple. However, Peggy doesn't realize that her husband is an evil sociopath...and leads a bloody truck hijacking ring. In fact, when the police catch up to Jim, Peggy has no idea that her hubby is a crook and all she knows is that armed men are approaching...and she helps Jim escape. However, soon after this she realizes what a scum-bag he is and she leaves him. Jim vows to get her back....or else. And the law assumes they are both evil criminals!

Peggy hides out as a cook for a nice artist (Reed Hadley). Very soon, he's smitten with her. She wants to reciprocate, as she is also very fond of him...and when Jim fakes his own death, she thinks she finally is rid of the guy. Imagine their surprise when Jim shows up!!

This is a very cheaply made film by a so-called 'Poverty Row' studio, Crescent. And, as such, I expected that the movie would be terrible....which it wasn't. Sure, some of the acting could have been better but overall the story worked and kept my interest. And, fortunately, Hadley was far less wooden that he was in 1950s TV.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments"

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 June 2021]

Evelyn Venable is thrilled when husband Craig Reynolds brings hme a diamond bracelet for her. His trucking business must be doing well! No, it's not. That's just a sideline and a cover: his real business is hijacking trucks, as she finds out when a couple of henchmen show up after a gun fight with cops. Before she can get a handle on what's going on, she's driving the getaway car, with a police man killed. Being a decent person, Miss Venable leaves and gets a job cooking for artist Reed Hadley, enchanting him with her ham and eggs and discussions of Schopenhauer.

There's something at the heart of this script that I can't figure out. I think it's because at less than an hour, director William Nigh lacks the budget and inclination to dig it out; I suspect it's about true love having an aspect of intellectual respect. That's thoroughly undercut by Hadley telling Miss Venable, once he's aware of the situation "Don't worry your head about it." Leave the thinking to big, strong artists!

There's decent story here, and good performances, but little more, a potentially strong film reduced to melodramatic mush.

A waste of time!

[JohnHowardReid · 1/10 · 8 October 2016]

Where do old films go when they die? I'll give you one guess! But here's one to avoid. Oh, yes indeed, it does have a catchy title, but the movie itself – despite a reasonably able cast, including Evelyn Venable in the title role – is strictly for insomniacs who are bound for dreamland. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes for this talky, Poverty Row crime melodrama to send viewers on their way! This chatterbox of a Poverty Row crime melodrama has virtually nothing to offer its potential audiences by way of entertainment. It features little action but lots of talk, drab sets, flat photography, rotten acting, lifeless direction and a climax that's at least ten times weaker than a baby's handshake.