On H List of Movie Reviews
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He Walked by Night (1948)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
10/15, 2/22
10/15:
I know a noir masterpiece when I see one, and He Walked by Night is just that.
It's also one of the greatest movies ever made. In fact, it inspired the creation of a famous TV show called
Dragnet. John Alton's cinematography is top-notch. To take the point further, it's the very definition of
noir: lean, gritty, lots of dark visuals with a brilliant use of chiaroscuro, and a clash of similar personalities on both
sides. The scenes that take place in the underground canals of Los Angeles' vast storm drain system are breathtaking. It's
like watching a Batman movie but better.
Jules Dassin's The Naked City comes to my mind a lot due to the semidocumentary tone.
Yet it's a sharp, taut
policier that keeps me at the edge of the seat. It's the hunter-versus-the-hunted-in-Los Angeles story that works.
There's a strong indication that He Walked by Night might be the originator of all policiers whether in film or
television. The police procedural perspective is both fascinating and groundbreaking.
Great films are made when the archnemesis is as every bit good as the plot and the setting. That's been the case with
Richard Basehart. His antisocial character is a brilliant, emotionless criminal cop killer and electronics-expert thief with
a cunning mind who sees four or five steps ahead and calculates his moves so well that his ultimate goal is not to be caught,
hence the elusiveness.
All in all, He Walked by Night is a top ten noir masterpiece.
2/22:
I'm downgrading my rating for He Walked by Night from '10' to '7'.
Serving as the inspiration for Dragnet, it's a good film noir picture but is dated in many ways. Jack Webb
shows off a lot of interesting forensic science stuff, and the story is similarly stylized as
The Naked City, both
released during the same year. There are many outstanding shots by cinematographer John Alton.
While everybody, most especially Scott Brady, is bland, Richard Basehart is memorable as the cunning criminal Roy Morgan.
His exploits were loosely based on Erwin Walker during the 40's, but the cop killer lived and was surprisingly released from
prison in 1974.
All in all, it's a good thing that He Walked by Night is only 79 minutes because any longer, it'll be boring.