He Walked by Night (1948)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann

Writers: John C. Higgins, Crane Wilbur, Harry Essex

Cinematographer: John Alton

Composer: Leonid Raab

Cast: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, Jimmy Cardwell, Jack Webb

Rather awkwardly mixing scenes filmed in a documentary-like style with those of a more stylised nature, this police-procedural cum noir thriller – following the hunt for an electronics-obsessed cop killer – has lost much of its appeal (mainly due to television’s continuation and refinement of the genre), but is, never the less, a stunningly photographed, well crafted, and generally compelling little film. Iain.Stott