The Night Runner is a 1957 American film noirdrama film directed by Abner Biberman, produced by Albert J.Cohen, and starring Ray Danton and Colleen Miller. Its screenplay was written by Gene Levitt. The story focuses on a released mental patient who falls in love but cannot control his violent urges.[1][2][3]
Plot
Roy Turner, a mental patient with a violent past, is prematurely released from a state mental hospital because of overcrowding. His psychiatrist advises him to avoid stressful situations. Realizing that he cannot handle the pressures of big-city life, he moves into a beach-side motel in a small coastal town in Southern California and falls in love with Susan Mayes, the daughter of the motel's owner, Loren. Things go very well until Loren discovers the truth about Roy's hospitalization. While Susan is out one evening, Loren commands Roy to leave, calling him a "lunatic". Roy snaps, killing the man. At first, no evidence ties Roy to the crime and, for a time, things again look bright for him and his relationship with Susan. They sell the motel and plan to move away together. However, while packing up, Susan comes across a hotel registration card that might implicate Roy, although she does not realize this; she is merely excited that there may finally be a clue to finding her father's killer. Cornered, Roy suggests a walk on the beach. There, he confesses to killing Loren and says he must now kill her. She falls into the raging tide as he advances toward her. Roy comes to his senses and rescues her, taking her back to the motel, where he phones the police to turn himself in.
