Bringing one of the on-line versions of the film (posted earlier) back into the thread for the convenience of anyone who might have missed it.
https://www.scifihistory.net/mainpage/stardate-06082023a-monsters-of-a-sort-roy-aint-right-in-1957s-noir-lite-the-night-runner
And here is an interesting take on the film from a film blogger who usually specializes in science fiction but who (as noted at the outset of his review) also has an affinity with film noir.
Universal's "B" department in the late 1950s created a number of films that are somewhat adjacent to film noir as often characterized but tend to stray around its edges--I think it's safe to say that THE NIGHT RUNNER is one that occupies an unusual niche in that it seems to back away from most of the cues that signal recognizable "genres" to us--noir, the "social problem" film, etc.--and move into a virtually unclassifiable realm of their own. The film's setting is even further removed from customary noir cues, even in a decade where location shooting and "lonely places" were more and more part of the "noir landscape."
A perfect film, in fact, for Elliot Lavine's series "NOT NECESSARILY NOIR," a programming format that's sorely in need of revival...
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