Libby Saul (Ida Lupino) is a shy 22 year old spinster with a stutter. She lives with her emotionally abusive parents in a rundown farmhouse. It is a family of bitterness and anger. She likes to escape into the woods and watch the convicts constructing a nearby road. Her parents try to set her up with the road engineer Jeff Barker but he turns out to be a creep. Eventually, she has had enough and runs away to a cabin in the woods. She is shocked to find convict Barry Burnette (Dane Clark) who escaped after a deadly landslide. She was already taken with him from before and helps him to hide from the search party.
That family is so uncomfortable and so good. The only weak spot in the whole movie is Dane Clark. He has a sad face and isn't strictly leading man material. He's not physically impressive. He's being a poor man's James Dean before James Dean. On the other hand, Ida Lupino is amazing. She's great at projecting a lot of changes in the character. It gets a bit too melodramatic at times and a bit too long. The third act drags. The best is the uncomfortably dark first half. I really love the best parts and I can overlook some of its flaws.
That family is so uncomfortable and so good. The only weak spot in the whole movie is Dane Clark. He has a sad face and isn't strictly leading man material. He's not physically impressive. He's being a poor man's James Dean before James Dean. On the other hand, Ida Lupino is amazing. She's great at projecting a lot of changes in the character. It gets a bit too melodramatic at times and a bit too long. The third act drags. The best is the uncomfortably dark first half. I really love the best parts and I can overlook some of its flaws.