Peggy Cummins (92 at this writing) is probably best known for her portrayal of a gun-happy gal in the classic noir "Gun Crazy" from 1950. After winning the lead in 1947's Forever Amber over 200 auditioners, she was replaced by Linda Darnell because the producers decided she wasn't famous enough.
Here she is in a programmer, "Escape" from 1948, alongside Rex Harrison. Harrison plays Matt DEnant, convicted of manslaughter after an accident involving a policeman. It was a just act, defending a woman talking with him in the park; he punched the police officer, who hit his head on the bench and died as a result.
Matt is sentenced to three years in prison which he doesn't want to spend for something he doesn't feel responsible for. He escapes during a thick fog and is caught by a young upper class woman, Dora Winton, as he's stealing her breakfast in her bedroom. She feels sorry for him and gives him a coat and hat, and he takes off as the police search her family's house.
Matt runs into Dora again when a car he stole breaks down, and again, she helps him. Unfortunately, while she helps him, another friend does not, and he nearly walks into a trap.
He learns that she's engaged to a man she doesn't love, strictly for money as her family has fallen on hard times. She doesn't think three years is all that long to serve, and points out that if Matt has to run and hide the rest of his life, isn't that prison too?
Good story with good performances. There are a couple of messages here - there are different kinds of prisons, and different kinds of laws. As a priest tells Matt, God's law is infallible. Man's is not.
The end is unexpected, at least it was by me.
