Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Leofwine_draca Dirk Bogarde excels in this contemporary thriller from 1952, directed by Charles Crichton. The story is a simple story of two characters who are on the run from both the authorities and the world, but what impresses here is the depth of characterisation and the multi-layered perspective of a cruel world. Despite the fact that he's introduced in the act of murder, Bogarde delivers an intensely sympathetic and gruff performance that's the best I've seen from him. Matching him is an excellent Jon Whiteley as the put-upon Scottish lad who comes along for the journey. Whiteley was a natural for these parts and would play almost exactly the same role in THE WEAPON. Watch HUNTED for the gritty realism, the non-sentimentality of the premise, and the excellent performances.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** The most unusual thing about this movie is that the person who's really the center of attraction and the reason all that happens in it someone called Mr.Wills isn't even in the films credits and isn't even, as far as I can see, played by a living person or actor but by a store front mannequin. It's in this bombed out building, during the London Blitz, that we see sailor Chris Lloyd, Dirk Bogarde, together with this six year old runaway little Robbie Campball, Jon Whiteley,just shooting the breeze where in the foreground we see this stiff, Mr. Willis, laying on the ground in the early stages of rigor mortis. How he, Willis, got there and what caused his condition, being dead, were never really told only that Lloyd's wife Megda, Elizabeth Sellars, worked for Willis who was getting a little too friendly with her.With all that behind us were then shown that Robbie is on the run from his foster parents because in him playing with matches he almost set the house on fire and is afraid that his step-dad Mr. Campbell, Jack Stewart, will beat the living hell out of him when he finds out about it. From then on both Lloyd & Robbie are on the run from the police as well as Mr. Campbell until they reach this seaside town in Scotland and plan to sea-jack a boat and check or sail out to safety in Ireland. It's while on the lamb that Lloyd becomes very attached to Robbie in that he feels that he's in far more trouble then he is. Not having a home to go home to and parents to love him Lloyd who had first had little use for Robbie starts to show real affection towards the little boy.***SPOILERS*** The love and affection that Lloyd shows for Robbie really hits home when on their way to Ireland Robbie falls deathly ill because of the raw and possibly rotten eggs that Lloyd has been giving him to eat and decides to turn the boat around back to Scotland and eventually face justice in the murder of Wills for reasons were never really given by the films screenwriters. What I couldn't quite understand is why Wills, who seemed to be well off financially, was in that bombed out building in the first place? That unless if Lloyd did murder him had dragged his body there to keep the police from finding it.

dbdumonteil ....and "Gloria" (1980) and "Leon" as well...Charles Crichton,whose career spans the second half of the century ("a fish named Wanda"!),is definitely a director to upgrade."Hunted" is a small gem ,a suspenseful sensitive story which casts Bogarde as an unlucky murderer on the lam and young John Whiteley as a moving kid.A road movie,from the bleak city to the wild moors of Scotland ,where a special chemistry between the man and the boy literally grows on the audience .Spoilers.Spoilers. Like all the great storytellers ,Crichton introduces first Bogarde as the "villain " who abducts a cute brat.But further acquaintance shows this:actually both of them are victims of a society that increases the prestige of money ,of Bogarde's boss who sleeps with his wife ,a society that does not care a little bit about its orphans whom it leaves to hateful "parents" .The boy really acts as if he's got nothing to lose.Admirable sequence :In a bedroom they share for one night,Bogarde begins a bedtime story for his protégé:it's a fairy tale ,a story of a giant.But little by little ,the story becomes HIS own story :what a smart way of letting us know about the hero's past!During this sequence ,which takes place halfway through the film,we see the boy SMILE for the first time.His face is so beaming we are on the verge of tears .He will laugh later ,in his pal's mean brother's house ,during the meal.When Bogarde sails away with his "hostage" ,he makes the story he told come true . End of spoilers .end of spoilersBogarde's rendering is a real tour de force and many consider this parthis first important one:tense,distraught,anguished,he runs the whole gamut of emotions.Matching him every step of the way is Whiteley's performance :in the three examples I mention at the beginning of my comment ,which I admire (with the exception of Besson's) ,the young actors cannot hold a candle to him.Instant karma:he won a special AA the following year,and was given the main part in Lang's "Moonfleet" in 1954.He was to meet again Bogarde in "Spanish gardener".Crichton had often been labeled "for the whole family".But they totally missed the point:"hunted" is not a rosy work,its open ending does not settle the things ,but increases our fear of what will become of our two so endearing heroes.His directing is now nervous -the first sequences when the heroes do not stop running -,now intimate -all the scenes where the two characters hang on to each other,now poetic -the seagulls which accompany the triumphant voyage .A wonderful use of nature (not unlike Charles Laughton's "the night of the hunter") and its wildlife where the runaways take refuge.Wonderful movie.

Adira-2 Although this movie is nearly fifty years old, it had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. What was going to happen next? Would the characters escape? I can't say much more, without giving away the story except - "Hunted" was brilliantly plotted and directed. Thumbs up to everyone concerned, including Dirk Bogarde as the wanted man, and Jon Whitely as the little boy whom he first used, and then befriended.