Product Description: A burglar becomes a cold-blooded cop killer and is hunted down on the streets of Los Angeles. The men in blue manage to track their suspect down into the bowels of the city--the labyrinth sewer system. Noir veteran Anthony Mann though uncredited co-directed the film. Well-done and supposedly an inspiration for Jack Webb's Dragnet TV series.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 027616899552 Manufacturer No: 1005694
Amazon.com: This gritty and often chilling documentary-style noir (based on a true story) about the hunt for a cop killer in Los Angeles is a must-have for fans of vintage crime films. Richard Basehart stars as a cold-blooded thief whose murder of a police officer sets off a citywide manhunt; the law, led by granite-jawed Scott Brady, tracks him relentlessly until the pair square off in the shadow-steeped drainage canals beneath the city (the same locale for the finale of Them!). Though Alfred Werker is credited as director, noir and Western vet Anthony Mann actually helmed the majority of the film; his muscular direction lends palpable suspense to the picture, aided in no small part by longtime collaborators John C. Higgins (who co-wrote the script) and cinematographer John Alton, whose Germanic-influenced lighting creates an otherworldly atmosphere. Supporting cast member Jack Webb borrowed the no-nonsense, semi-documentary approach for Dragnet. --Paul Gaita
A visual classic & first rate thriller Criterion should release a remastered version of this film. Every shot stands on its own as a masterpiece of black & white photography right up there with the greats of still photography. In many of the scenes the extremely complex lighting highlights 2 separate actions/viewpoints, with action well-lit in the background (room or street) while the killer, profile brightly outlined, lurks in the shadows. The camera angles always enhance the plot & pacing; sometimes the movie looks like an animated set of woodblocks.
John Alton, the great cinematographer on this film wrote a book on photographic lighting called painting With Light which is still in print.
A spell-binding movie and, incidentally, the inspiration for Dragnet.
Don't Make the Same Mistake I Did I chose to buy the cheap version of this movie which is produced by a variety of "fly by night" dvd companies and I am sure the quality is similar for all: really, really bad. The sound is so garbled throughout that its beyond annoying. The picture suffers from contrast and brightness problems. The only solution is to pay a little extra and buy the MGM production of the movie which I am told is very good and clean. This is an important movie ghost directed by one of Hollywood's most versatile and competent directors, Anthoney Mann who made many film noir films early in his career and then went on to direct some really great westerns with James Stewart. I give the version I bought only one star because of the problems described above but I would give the MGM version at least four stars.
Basehart a Darkhorse! Richard Basehart gives an under the radar performance as a lonely, troubled, cold killer in He Walked By Night (1948). His screen presence as the character Roy commands recognition among noir stalwarts such as Widmark, Duryea , Mitchum, and Lancaster. How this minor league studio produced such a realistic vision of Los Angeles noir is amazing. The acting, camera work, script, lighting, sets, and final print leaves little to be desired. A bit more plot intrigue would have earned this film a 5 star rating and a place alongside noir masterpieces such as The Asphalt Jungle, The Killers, and Out of the Past. The film boasts a wide range of characters; from mailmen, police officers, and crimminal technicians to a mentally unstable housewife. Unfortunately I own The Ultimate Film Noir Collection which contains 5 DVD's and 10 films one of which is He Walked By Night that omits closing credits. I accessed the uncredited cast of He Walked By Night by visiting a helpful website-the movie data base which contained interesting information about the film and cast. One comment I would like to make that was mentioned by previous reviewers is the comparison between the underground chase scene in He Walked By Night and The Third Man. The sound, editing, visual bleakness and desperation captured in the chase scene in He Walked By Night is superior to the plagarized scene in The Third Man.
He Walked by Night The semi-documentary approach Director Mann pioneered within film noir, seen in both "T-Men" and "Naked City," was realized most effectively in this picture, which methodically follows a manhunt for a cop-killer. The film is extremely tight, plays out in chronological time, and climaxes with a brilliantly-shot sequence in a city sewer. The spooky, skin-crawling performance of Basehart as the baby-faced killer is reason enough to add this movie to your must-see list of noir masterworks.
Great and dark As a kid I only knew actor Richard Basehart for his part as Admiral Nelson of the submarine Seaview on the 60's TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and wasn't aware of his edgy work in films that had preceded it. This precision tooled crime drama also includes several elements that would later become part of the Dragnet TV series, but this is a much more intense sort of work. Based on a real case, this fine black & white film showcases Basehart's portrayal of a brilliant sociopathic killer/criminal, but everyone is well cast and utilized; including a very young Jack Webb. Sort of half police-procedural film and half cold-blooded film noir. Basehart was also excellent as the man on the suicidal ledge in Fourteen Hours
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