"The familiar plight of a boy who disappears just before his music lesson is the simple springboard launching The Great Man Hunt. The subsequent adventures of the older brother and a reluctant pal who search for the errant youngster build into a chase sequence (on the teen age level) that is soundly representative of basic movie techniques. In developing this theme, Donald Volkman set himself many a difficult exposure problem — notably in shots of the boys aboard a trolley car and in wooded areas with sunlight slanting through tall trees. His solution of these problems is satisfying in every case. Further, Mr. Volkman's cross cutting in the chase sequences indicates intelligent study of professional masters of this technique. A swift climax is presented amusingly as the music teacher apprehends the boy who, wearing only a pair of swimming trunks, tucks a violin under his chin and proceeds to play his lesson at the edge of a lake." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 455.
"El relato iniciaba con la presentación de un grupo de jóvenes que corren de manera desesperada por las calles de la ciudad, presumiblemente perseguidos por la policía. Inexplicablemente, dada la urgencia de la huída, uno se detiene a escribir en una barda la palabra "Libertad". No lo consigue, porque una bala lo derrumba cuando apenas va en "Libe...". (de ahí el título de la película). [...] La película apenas muestra una esperanza posible en la lucha por la libertad. Después del acoso y el acecho, todos los jóvenes que han protagonizado la historia mueren por una bala anónima de una fuerza represiva que no alcanza a tener un rostro definido" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"The story began with the presentation of a group of young people that run desperately throughout the city streets, presumably they are being chased by the police. Inexplicably, given the urgency of the escape, one of them stops to write the word "Freedom" on a wall. He fails, because a bullet overthrows him when he has barely written "Freed.." (hence the title of the film). [...] The film barely shows hope for the struggle for freedom. After the harassment and the siege, all the young people that starred the film are murdered by an anonymous bullet of a repressive force that does not have a defined face" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"Irwin Sharpe and Cye Landy have gone back to film beginnings in composing their engaging little etude, Picnic. The fundamental of their selection is the old reliable device of the chase sequence. Beginning quietly with a simple family picnic, the producers soon overlay on this bucolic subject a mysterious kidnapping and its resultant chase. The cutting, camera positions and tempo of this climactic sequence show a true understanding of cinematic expression." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 538-539.
"Basing his story line on an incident which is said actually to have occurred in Sweden, Harry W. Atwood has proved once again in Through the Valley his imaginative understanding of what makes a true motion picture. For here is camera work of the first order, expressed in meaningful angles and building through a stirring chase sequence to a point of very real dramatic tension. If anything, the film's climax has been staged with a shade too much of melodrama, while a concluding quotation from the Scriptures left these reviewers regretfully more puzzled than uplifted." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 471.
"A man pulls over to repair a flat tire on his car and is quickly ambushed and robbed by a passerby. The victim regains consciousness and soonafter chases the robber up onto a train overpass where the two battle it out." Chicago Film Archives
Amateur Cinema