Woman On The Run - Amusement Park
After leaving the coroner's office Eleanor tells Leggett she had fainted from relief because the deceased in fact was not her husband Frank. What's more she has now solved the riddle in his letter - he is waiting to meet her at an amusement park at the beach in Carmel. Without delay they hop in a cab and head right over.
Then ... They are dropped off at the amusement park outside a theater - the Dome - where the 1950 movie The Big Lift starring Montgomery Clift was playing.
... from a vintage photo ... supposedly in Carmel per the script, the final scenes in the movie were actually all filmed at Ocean Park Pier in Santa Monica, Southern California (not at San Francisco's Playland At The Beach as some have claimed). Ocean Park Pier is no longer in existence so CitySleuth has resorted to vintage photos to authenticate the locations - here's a shot, from a different angle, of the Dome Theater.
Ocean Park Pier extended far out into the sea a little south of Santa Monica Pier. First opened in 1919 it was rebuilt in 1926 after a major fire. In 1958, 8 years after Woman On The Run was filmed there, it was renamed Pacific Ocean Park, aka POP. POP closed in 1967 and after sitting forlornly vacant through the early 70's was demolished in 1975 following another major fire.
Then ... an aerial view of Pacific Ocean Park in its heyday (1958)
... and Now, a satellite view of the site today. The pier jutted out to sea from where the road at upper center curves around (the parking lot at left is the only common feature in the two images). The beach has since reclaimed the site but warning signs still ban swimming here because of underwater obstructions from the detritus of the old pier.
The denouement of the story is about to take place. In filming it, director Norman Foster has left for us valuable rare footage of a long-gone early 20th century entertainment park beloved by generations of families, much as Don Siegel did with San Francisco's Sutro's Baths in the 1958 movie The Lineup.