The Night Runner
1957 film by Abner Biberman
The Night Runner is a 1957 American film noir drama 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.
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 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.
The public source identifies “The Night Runner” as 1957 film by Abner Biberman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Night, Runner and film.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Night Runner”, the useful work is to connect “1957 film by Abner Biberman” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16253639. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Night Runner”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Night Runner primary sources, The Night Runner archive and Night research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Night Runner”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Night Runner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.