Chuck becomes mixed up in a plot to help Eddie's wife Lorna (Michèle Morgan) run off to Havana to escape her cruel husband.

Chuck Scott is a World War II veteran who is now a penniless drifter in Miami tormented by bizarre dreams.

All the evidence points to Scotty as the killer, including the fact that he had, earlier that day, apparently purchased the knife used in the murder.

Scotty escapes police custody but is supposedly gunned down by Gino when he returns to the curio store from which the knife was purchased.

He is sweating profusely and immediately takes his pills, presumably prescribed to treat his posttraumatic stress disorder from battle.

[3] In March 1946, Robert Cummings signed on to play a lead role[4] and Joan Leslie was borrowed from Warner Bros. to costar.

[6] Warner Bros. then insisted Leslie was still under contract to them,[7] causing principal photography to be delayed by a month over the dispute.

[11] Critic Gene Arieel of The Hollywood Scene wrote: "The Chase has flaws, to be sure, but it has additionally a good share of suspense and excitement."

Leyen Decker of The Independent newspaper wrote: "The Chase is fascinating and suspenseful but falls back on the familiar dream solution as the easiest way out, and the audiences will be confused and disappointed."

[12] Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward write in Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style: "Phantom Lady excepted, The Chase is the best cinematic equivalent of the dark, oppressive atmosphere that characterizes most of Cornell Woolrich's best fiction.

In 2012, it was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive,[15] a version that has been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in the U.S.

It includes an audio commentary by Canadian director Guy Maddin and two 1940s radio adaptations based on the source novel.