He Walked By Night

He Walked By Night (1948)

Runtime: 79 minutes

Directed by: Alfred L. Werker/Anthony Mann

Starring: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, Jack Webb

From: Eagle-Lion Films

Here is another film noir that I saw, and this one happened to be the reason why we ended up getting Dragnet. Read about that and how this is a movie worth seeing by reading my Letterboxd review below:

I decided to watch another noir last night and I picked this one out in part because it was the inspiration for Dragnet. Jack Webb had a supporting role here and he was inspired enough to create the radio show that became the famed TV show in the 60's, which I actually did see some episodes of WAY back when I was a young kid; I mean, that had to be more than 25 years ago. The plot sounded interesting to me so I checked it out, and I am glad I did.

The semi-documentary style is used to tell a story of an intelligent burglar who ends up murdering a cop, and the entire film is only devoted to the case of the Los Angeles police working the investigation to catch Roy Morgan, the killer. They interview suspects (pretty much literally rounding them up based on profiling... not that the LAPD would do such things now...) and use the 1940's version of forensic science. Roy commits other crimes, and this riles up the police department even more, especially when they have trouble catching him, as Morgan is wise and uses his skills for evil. Finally... it's a memorable event involving the storm drains of LA.

I am a nerd so I was interested in seeing how they cracked the case, and how they go through all the steps. They even do a slide based version of creating a composite sketch of the perpetrator. It was all intriguing to me, and the fact that this was a well-made film (co-directed by Anthony Mann) with nice cinematography from John Alton-who did plenty of work in the genre and won an Oscar for An American in Paris-is a bonus. There's some musical score but a lot of it is in silence, which was the right move when there are some very tense scenes. Heck, there's even a scene where the killer performs surgery on himself and that has been done by heroes and villains in movies many times since then. At this time, it's disturbing.

Oh, and this was somewhat based on a real life case. I won't get into the details here but look up Erwin Walker on Google and there's a nice Wikipedia article about why he turned into a life of crime, which involved regret from a horrific event in World War II. It is a sad tale in a way, although definitely engrossing. In the movie, we just know that the heel is a wise but twisted individual whose only companion is a small dog.

I have enjoyed watching more noir since the fall of '14, as I have enjoyed watching pretty much all of them, and some are real gems, such as this one that should be seen whether or not you are a Dragnet fan.