No Escape

1953
PG
1h 16m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Lew Ayres and Marjorie Steele in No Escape (1953)

When the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a ba... Read allWhen the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a bar to be blamed for the crime. The girl, knowing that neither she nor the piano player comm... Read allWhen the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a bar to be blamed for the crime. The girl, knowing that neither she nor the piano player committed the murder, helps him to escape from the police dragnet and try to find the real kil... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

426

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos9

+ 2

More like this

6.3

The Dark Past

5.8

Bad for Each Other

6.4

The Killer That Stalked New York

6.6

6.5

7.1

6.6

6.6

6.8

5.6

6.8

5.5

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
In the UK this modest film was seen by far more people than would normally have been the case as it was chosen to support Rank's massively successful Coronation documentary A Queen Is Crowned on the Odeon and Gaumont circuits.

Goofs
As is not unusual, when Tracy is playing his song and accompanying himself on the piano at the party, towards the end a full orchestra joins in.

Soundtracks
No Escape
Music by Bert Shefter
Lyrics by Charles Bennett

User reviews10

Review

Featured review

6/10

Cheap but very watchable.

Back in the 1930sl, Lew Ayres was on top of the world in Hollywood. After starring in "All Quiet on the Western Front", he had a steady career in Hollywood. And, when he got the lead in MGM's Dr. Kildare series, Ayres continued on his winning ways. However, WWII arrived and Ayres was an avowed pacifist. While he bravely volunteered to be an orderly in the military, his refusal to fight soured him with the public and the studios. As a result, his career, with a few exceptions (such as "Johnny Belinda" in 1948), was mostly flat in the post-war years. He worked but the quality of the films declined. This is why he starred in a low-budget film like "No Escape"...a film that paired him with mostly no-name actors and Sonny Tufts...who, himself, had fallen even further in his career thanks to his off-screen habits (as well as his rather wooden acting). So, it seemed obvious that this film was most likely a second or third-rate affair. But is it worth seeing despite this? Read on....

The story finds John Tracy (Ayres) a down and out lounge singer. This part is pretty funny, as it's clearly NOT Ayres singing and the voice isn't even close to his. Soon, he's accused of a vicious murder and the San Francisco police force is looking for him. Oddly, however, Detective Shayne (Tufts) is mostly interested in getting John to disappear instead of catching him. Could this all have something to do with the lady who BOTH men are interested in...Pat (Marjorie Steele)?

This film has some shortcomings. Not only is the singing bad but a few scenes looked pretty cheap (such as the view from Pat's apartment which was at a VERY strange angle). Despite this, however, the film is still entertaining and worth seeing. A great mystery/suspense movie? Nah...but interesting and better than I had first hoped!