The Chase (1946)

Surely the Cornell Woolrich book doesn't unfold in the way this adaptation does, starting enterprisingly with a chump (perhaps in the book a traumatised drug-addled chump?) landing a job as a driver for a ruthless crime boss - a surprisingly ruthless crime boss, for 1947 - but, after a brief noone-believes-him moment a la The Lady Vanishes and a false murder charge a la a lot of other Hitchcock movies, about-facing in very confusing fashion - think a The Woman In The Window's it-was-all-a-dream type of about-face - rendering irrelevant all that has happened in the first half, a bit like saying to an audience halfway through a movie, "OK, forget all that...here's a quick rundown of what actually happened..."

★★★☆☆

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The Chase (반드시 잡는다) (Ban-deu-si jab-neun-da) (2017)

Director Kim Hong-seon's serial killer thriller is best in its first two-thirds as it follows cantankerous landlord Sim Deok-soo around Aridong on his motorised scooter chasing rent from his tenants, encountering goofy hoodlums and stumbling on grisly crime scenes along the way, but the movie becomes less impressive once its not very likely organised/disorganised killer/kidnapper plot kicks in.

★★★☆☆

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