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entertaining film that also embodied serious social comment: “Runaway attempts to
have it both ways, with the result that it becomes confusing, with the entertainment
values detracting from the serious comment”. Like virtually all other reviewers he
was unhappy with the script, and he saw a kind of negative synergy being created
between the limitations of the script and the limitations of the acting. An example
was the character played by Colin Broadley.
Since the script fails to provide suitable motivations for his actions, it was
essential if the character was to be convincing that the audience should feel
strongly a sense of compassion for the boy. Colin Broadley however presents
him as so uncomplicated that David is dull and the audience really cannot feel
concern at his fate. My own personal reaction was one of growing irritation at
the boy’s stupidity.
Surprisingly, Downey was the only reviewer to discuss the fact that Runaway was
derivative of the “man alone” concept.
Although the story is a melodramatic one, it is in accordance with a standard
New Zealand literary theme. This lonely individual at odds with his society is
to be seen in various incarnations in John Mulgan’s Man Alone, Frank
Sargeson’s I Saw in My Dream, Erik de Mauny’s The Huntsman In His
Career, Gordon Slatter’s A Gun In My Hand, and Ian Cross’s The God Boy.
Awareness of this tradition seems to have helped Downey to view the ending more
positively than other reviewers. He saw the dramatic image of “the boy trudging off
into the mountain snows” [as coming off] “surprisingly well”. That other
commentators did not mention “man alone” is a salutary reminder that the New
Zealand tradition of cultural nationalism remained little known in the 1960s outside of
a small community based primarily in literature. Downey could not resist adding his
own suggestions for the restructuring of the script: “It would be much more
dramatically effective if the film were to start with the Aramoana sequence – face of
the dead man in the water included. This would bring us immediately to the meeting
of the two principal characters, and provide a certain air of mystery. We would see
the film from Diana’s point off view.” He also suggested that further flashbacks