DVD Corner

You Can’t Run Away From It Blu-ray Review

Jack Lemmon makes “You Can’t Run Away From It” watchable. 

Written by Claude Binyon, 1956’s “You Can’t Run Away From It” is a musical remake of “It Happened One Night.” The story begins with a spoiled heiress (Ellie) being kidnapped by her father (A.A. Andrews). Andrews is angry that Ellie married a playboy (Jack). Furious, Ellie escapes and hops on a bus to Houston to meet up with her new husband. While on the bus, she encounters an out of work reporter (Peter). When Peter finds out the truth about who Ellie is, he makes a deal to help her out in exchange for having a career-defining big story. Naturally, the trip doesn’t go as planned, but as you can probably guess, Ellie and Peter begin to bond and fall in love with one another. 

If you’ve never heard of director Dick Powell’s romantic musical “You Can’t Run Away From It” before, well, there’s a reason for that. It’s a mediocre and VERY 50’s remake of Frank Capra’s classic “It Happened One Night.” The entire project comes across like a watered down version of ‘Night’ with a musical element that feels like it was tacked on at the last minute with goofy cornball tracks like “Howdy Friends And Neighbors” and “Thumbin’ A Ride.” It’s puzzling why the decision was even made to remake a film that had already won Best Picture. You can’t improve upon that.

The saving grace here is Jack Lemmon who has always been one of my personal favorite actors. He always brings a level of personality and charm that elevates every movie he is in. The late great actor wasn’t known for starring in musicals so it’s fascinating to see him in one here. He really goes all out in doing the best that he can with the role that he is given. June Allyson (who was married to Dick Powell at the time) is miscast here and her often grating voice is certainly not right for a musical. She has good chemistry with Lemmon at least though.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 2.35:1 1080p. How does it look? The Cinemascope and Technicolor film gets an impressive restoration that features richer colors.

Audio Track: Stereo DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? There’s not a lot of details about this track, but it’s a nice clean DTS track to be sure.

No extras.

November 26, 2024 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | It Happened One Night, Jack Lemmon, June Allyson, musical, You Can't Run Away From It Blu-ray Review