He Walked by Night (1949)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Overrated and overhyped

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

He Walked by Night is a pretty dull murderer hunt type film, given life only by it's killer. The film being based on facts, that seems rather wrong no? Praising the guy who committed countless crimes and shot cops. All the cops involved had zero character, a guy getting out a cigarette every time he is in a scene is not a replacement for having personality. The face sketching scene was ridiculous and the cops taking forever to try and catch him at his home once they knew where he lived, was pathetic. Without the enigmatic and intriguing characterization of Roy, with which they would not of had that information as he was a loner, there is nothing here. So essentially the only good thing about this movie is mostly made up, might as well have made up the whole thing.

"He Walked By Night" (1948) fully deserves its good reputation as a classic noir, thanks mainly to its chilling performance by Richard Basehart and a great deal of atmospherically low-key location filming in Los Angeles by ace cameraman, John Alton. "He Walked by Night" is also one of Hollywood's rare movies with no romance. Absolutely none at all! In fact, not even a hint of one. It's Mr. Whit Bissell, not some well endowed Hollywood starlet, who shines in the support case. Anthony Mann is reputed to have directed some scenes in this movie, but I have no idea what they were, as it was not an assignment that he claimed in his credits."He Walked by Night" is currently available on an Alpha DVD. I would give this DVD a mark of least eight out of ten.

*Spoiler/plot- He walks the Night, 1948. A clever young criminal uses his electronic knowledge to steal and re-sell home electronic items during the early TV and radio age in Los Angeles. He is ruthless and shoots two police officers that are chasing him. The crook uses the extensive underground flood control system to keep ahead of the police. After a chase and gunfight, he is killed there. *Special Stars- Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, Jack Webb.*Theme- Good honorable police enforcement often helps justice along the way.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, Film noir, Los Angeles. Semi-documentary style with narrator. Mr. Basehart had very little dialog(film voice over narrator did most of the plot exposition) but a lot of acting in this first film for him . The LAPD technical adviser talked to Jack Webb and this project became the basis for the Dragnet radio show which turned into a TV show. *Emotion- Gritty, raw, action packed, 'film noir' stark shadows across the principle characters in scenes, very little flowery dialog and raw semi-documentary shooting style make this film the granddaddy of many latter decades police dramas. The best of these film makes the viewer a participant. If you're a fan of detective film noir(like me), you'll enjoy this movie. Non-fans will find this film full of trivial faults. I did not.

The film starts with Roy (Richard Basehart) killing a policeman. No-one deserves to die but this policeman was on his way home so what was he doing interfering with someone else's business, especially as we are told his dying words were "he seemed such a nice kid". Well, what was he doing stopping him then? Anyway, the film follows the police department's search for the killer. They have little to work on and Roy is quite a prolific offender.This started off with one of those annoying narration intros by someone who sounds like he is a cartoon character narrating "Whacky Races". The cast are good with Richard Basehart standing out in the lead role. There are many memorable scenes including the beginning sequence where Roy shoots the jobsworth policeman, the scene where Roy removes the bullet from where he has been shot - you can feel the pain, and the end sequence from when Roy is in his house and he senses the police closing in which includes a memorable chase through the sewers. I can't remember any music being played during the film and this adds to the realism and tension in every scene.It's a good film that's worth watching again and it's based on a true story.