Customer Reviews

He Walked By Night

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Roy Martin (Richard Basehart) is as cold as an ice pick and as ruthless as teflon. Martin is a burglar, an extortionist, and worst of all, he's a cop killer.
Alfred Werker's HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a taut, moody police procedural. Some have called it a film noir, but it lacks certain key elements to merit that brand. In noir the cops are usually as corrupt as the bad guys. HWBN lacks that moral ambiguity. We never doubt that Martin is evil and the cops are good. Noirs also delight in probing the psyche of the protagonist. HWBN keeps it lead character at arm's length. Martin is a creature of the shadows and the sewers, half emerging into the light only long enough to extort or kill. There's not a shot in this movie that is taken from his point of view. Even when the scene includes only Martin and his dog we're kept at a distance. We're detached observers rather than participants. HWBN wants to exterminate rather than examine and explain. Evil can't be understood by the good, but it can be eliminated.
I wouldn't pick at this point if MGM didn't call HE WALKED BY NIGHT "this film noir classic" on the dvd jacket. The difference between HWBN and film noir is as great as the difference between Faulkner and Hemingway, and fans of the genre shouldn't be misled.
If you looking for comparisons, DRAGNET is a lot more appropriate. Jack Webb has a small role in here, and it was while working on this movie he met the LAPD technical advisor who helped him develop Dragnet for radio (it debuted shortly after the movie opened.) As it goes in most police procedurals, the bad guy is too clever by half and the good guys can prevail only after a painstaking investigation and a slow accumulation of evidence.
What HWBN does share with film noir is a gritty, alienating, urban setting and evocative light-and-shadow photography. Los Angeles is presented here as cold and lifeless, filled with anonymous cottages and enormous storm tunnels.
That said, HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a wonderful movie. Basehart is icily effective as the loner killer. The semi-documentary feeling and naturalistic acting styles employed are just right for the subject matter. If you don't find yourself running out of the room every time an old Dragnet or a newer CSI comes on, you might just enjoy this one.

Roy Martin (Richard Basehart) is as cold as an ice pick and as ruthless as teflon. Martin is a burglar, an extortionist, and worst of all, he's a cop killer.
Alfred Werker's HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a taut, moody police procedural. Some have called it a film noir, but it lacks certain key elements to merit that brand. In noir the cops are usually as corrupt as the bad guys. HWBN lacks that moral ambiguity. We never doubt that Martin is evil and the cops are good. Noirs also delight in probing the psyche of the protagonist. HWBN keeps it lead character at arm's length. Martin is a creature of the shadows and the sewers, half emerging into the light only long enough to extort or kill. There's not a shot in this movie that is taken from his point of view. Even when the scene includes only Martin and his dog we're kept at a distance. We're detached observers rather than participants. HWBN wants to exterminate rather than examine and explain. Evil can't be understood by the good, but it can be eliminated.
I wouldn't pick at this point if MGM didn't call HE WALKED BY NIGHT "this film noir classic" on the dvd jacket. The difference between HWBN and film noir is as great as the difference between Faulkner and Hemingway, and fans of the genre shouldn't be misled.
If you looking for comparisons, DRAGNET is a lot more appropriate. Jack Webb has a small role in here, and it was while working on this movie he met the LAPD technical advisor who helped him develop Dragnet for radio (it debuted shortly after the movie opened.) As it goes in most police procedurals, the bad guy is too clever by half and the good guys can prevail only after a painstaking investigation and a slow accumulation of evidence.
What HWBN does share with film noir is a gritty, alienating, urban setting and evocative light-and-shadow photography. Los Angeles is presented here as cold and lifeless, filled with anonymous cottages and enormous storm tunnels.
That said, HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a wonderful movie. Basehart is icily effective as the loner killer. The semi-documentary feeling and naturalistic acting styles employed are just right for the subject matter. If you don't find yourself running out of the room every time an old Dragnet or a newer CSI comes on, you might just enjoy this one.

You can't possibly begin a discussion about gritty crime dramas without mentioning He Walked by Night, basically the grand-daddy of police procedurals and an obvious inspiration for the classic Dragnet radio and television series (with the radio series beginning a mere four months after this film's release). Sometimes classified as film noir, He Walked by Night is especially noteworthy for its impressive cinematography (thanks to John Alton) and its semi-documentary-style presentation. You would never know by looking at it that the film was produced for an independent Poverty Row studio (Eagle-Lion), but one must note that the direction owes more to an uncredited Anthony Mann than it does to Alfred L. Werker.

The story is only concerned with the crimes, the criminal, the pursuit, and the capture. None of the cops is given much of a personality (ironically, Jack Webb - in a secondary role as a forensics expert - is probably the most personable fellow in the entire film), but that's what makes this style of film so effective. The L.A. cops who work to track down a man who killed one of their own really represent cops everywhere, straight-laced, fully committed public servants concerned only with doing their jobs and getting bad guys off the streets. No matter how close an individual detective may be to the case, he goes by the book and puts together the puzzle pieces using the latest forensic technology (including, in this case, the equivalent of an Identikit) and investigative techniques. Contrast this with the unrealistic cop films of today, which invariably give us a renegade cop who doesn't play by the rules, routinely beats information out of possible informants, and generally makes a mockery of true police work.

The story (based on the real-life story of Erwin "Machine Gun" Walker) features Richard Basehart as Roy Martin, an intelligent burglar turned killer who seems to outsmart LAPD at every turn following his murder of a policeman who caught him trying to break into an electronics store. Captain Breen (Roy Roberts) immediately throws down a dragnet of the area, but the killer is too smart to fall into the trap. Starting with almost nothing, the cops go to work putting the facts together and seeing where they lead. They get a break when the killer is linked to an electronics supplier, but they manage to let him slip through their fingers (and permanently injuring yet another cop in the process). Like any criminal with half a brain, Martin changes his M.O. and uses the city's underground drain pipes to make quick escapes, leaving the authorities baffled. In realistic fashion, it takes a lot of tedious investigation, forensic evidence, and legwork to break the case - which is really the whole point of the story.

Basehart is superb as the slippery Roy Martin, and the scene wherein he removes a bullet from his own abdomen is a riveting moment which propels the film onto a higher plane. Martin's not quite the genius the cops make him out to be, for they have only themselves to blame for not catching him much sooner than they do, but Basehart deserves plenty of kudos for making He Walked By Night such a dramatic thriller. With its innate aura of realism, impressive cinematography and camera work, and solid cast, He Walked By Night is a timeless film of immense influence, putting to shame the unrealistic, rebel with a badge films that increasingly pass for crime dramas today.

He Walked by Night is okay, but it isn't classic film noir.

If you want to see how Jack Webb's TV show Dragnet developed its style, this police procedural is the blueprint. Oddly (considering his wooden TV acting), here Jack Webb plays the most interesting cop. Webb is a CSI-type, spending his time in the laboratory comparing bullet striations and playing with explosives. The tough-guy detectives make fun of his soft-spoken manner. He lets the neanderthals mock him because he knows he's smarter than they are.

Except for Richard Basehart's insane killer techno-wizard, the acting is mediocre. You see a couple of the character actors who became regulars in Webb's repertory company for Dragnet.

When a cop is killed, the LAPD rounds up every male alone on the the streets. They roust men out of hotels and arrest everyone who looks suspicious. They handcuff all the scum together and drag them downtown. But they don't get the guy who actually killed the cop because he's a good-looking young white war veteran and doesn't resemble the types they instinctively go after.

As the narrator speaking to us from 1948 describes how the police go about rounding up all these lowlifes, he assumes we won't worry about any rights of theirs that are being violated. After all, it's only been seven years since Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put in camps.

When the cops try to interrogate an old Chinese man dressed like he walked in from a Fu Manchu movie, they can't hide their exasperation at his speaking his own language.

I expected there to be more to Richard Basehart's character. When the police first discover his scientific equipment and weapons, it looks like he's been planning something big, but nothing ever comes of it.

We never find out why someone so intelligent became a thief and killer. Because he uses the sewers under Los Angeles to avoid the police, I expected one (admittedly overdramatic) ending, but the police just track him down.

The ending is flat. You don't feel that justice is served, or order restored.

In response to Jammmer's (from Wyoming) review, let me begin by saying that the prerequisite for liking this movie has nothing to do with "Dragnet." I've seen many, many episodes of "Dragnet," and except for the presence of Jack Webb and a similar overall format, this movie is very little like "Dragnet" (and I doubt that Jammmer has even seen an "original" "Dragnet" episode). I addition, the cops in this movie are not portrayed as "wonder-boy saints." They are portrayed as regular human beings who make mistakes and even get killed (or seriously injured) on the job. This was done to rebel against the super-hero image that cops had been given in Hollywood for a long time, and I'm surprised that such an apparent "expert" in classic films like Jammmer couldn't figure that out. Along these lines, the acting was kept restrained to give the police a less glamorous image, but what I'd like to know is how people like Jammmer expect cops on the job to act. Should they tell some jokes, shed a tear, or chase a dame while they are on a routine job? Look at everyday people's faces while they are working and that is what you are supposed to see on the cops in this movie. In addition, this movie is a semi-documentary that is supposed to illustrate a real crime scene. When police go after crooks, they do not immediately know the crooks' motives, or other things that Jammmer wishes this movie would illustrate. Jammmer's comments and others like it simply prove that many people cannot grasp the original concept of this movie. But I can and the movie pulls it off excellently.

This reviewer bought this 'docu-melodrama' based on these reviews, not knowing the prerequisite to enjoy this "masterpiece of American cinema" is to regard Jack Webb's "Dragnet" as perhaps the greatest TV production ever. (...)

Richard Basehart (as Roy Martin, hardly a 30-ish "kid") introduces some dimensionality with acting talents that overcame even this dead-on-arrival script. In comparison to the others' stone-faced wooden readings, his became the unintended, even sympathetic anti-hero protagonist. To those pondering this character's motivations, the answer is simple: Script writers couldn't care less. To hell with motivation! We want police action!

Maybe Carol Reed's "The Third Man" borrowed concepts from the sewer chase. So what? Does "The Fugitive" - and other such films - owe its' sewer chase to this source too? "The Third Man" is a textbook example of real five-star cinema, as watching Criterion's re-mastered version back-to-back with this pathetic flick amply demonstrates. (And revisit the five-star "LA Confidential" while you're at it.) True, this sewer's noir cinematography is well done. But the flick is overall a series of caricatures (hardly "promoting respect for police officers...") that are one-dimensional, crime-does-not-pay parodies (unintended and at times hilarious), with siren-blaring hordes of antique police cars screeching out of garages galore; and corny voice-overs to fill in pot holes and extol the LAPD as wonder-boy saints.

Positives are Basehart's performance (one star); the crisp black and white noir cinematography with few (if any) glitches, and the sound being largely unblemished (one star); a very sweet and clever dog; an OK DVD keep-case; the mercifully short 79 minute running time; and the low DVD cost. Noir collectors, crime film buffs and film historians may be interested.

I think mostly everything that needs to be said about this particular film noir classic has been said before, in other previous reviews. I am adding to the review selection only to tell film buffs that the MGM released DVD of Dec.2nd 2003, is absolutely superior to any previous DVD release for this film. Apparently MGM had the original negative, or at least a top notch print the whole time. For a 55 year old film, this DVD release is excellent, and at a great price. Throw the Alpha, or the Film Noir Of Anthony Mann version to the side. This is the real deal! Great film noir, and a great quality dvd to boot. No extras, but a nice black and white print at a bargain price.

it holds my interest to the utmost

Well--some reviewers consider "He Walked By Night" a masterpiece--at least one other reviewer called it "pathetic". From my three stars, you can guess that I am somewhere between these two extreme views. I can think of a number of 40s "film noir" melodramas that are superior to this one, but I still found it an interesting way of passing 80 minutes.

With respect to acting honours, it is no contest. This is Richard Basehart's movie, hands down. His cold-blooded killer is a very different animal to some of the rough-looking types
( hello Rondo Hatton ) that inhabit some of these movies. We are reminded that, years before his TV fame on "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ", Richard Basehart was a very fine actor. I agree that most of the actors portraying "LA's finest" are stone-faced, cardboard cut-outs--Scott Brady and, of course, Jack Webb are wooden in the extreme. I thought that Roy Roberts fared a bit better, expressing emotion that seemed to be beyond the grasp of those zombies reporting to him. B-movie regular, Whit Bissell, is appropriately nervous as an electronics dealer, who finds he has been doing business with a killer. Also, if you are a B-movie buff, you will spot Kenneth Tobey as a cop, just a couple of years away from his encounter with "The Thing From Another World", and several other nasty, sci/fi creatures.

I found the shots of LA in the 40s very interesting, and I love old cars, so the historical aspect was a plus for me. Of course, we are decades away from computers, so police methods in this film will seem very quaint to younger viewers. The "profile" scene is well done--various citizens are called in to help the police determine what Mr. Basehart looks like, and the results are very effective.

The movie does generate a lot of suspense, and the final showdown in the drainage tunnels is well done.

The DVD has a nice black and white picture--mono sound of course. If you like old-fashioned crime films, that do not wear out their welcome, this modestly-priced disc would fit in your collection. I would also not want to discourage MGM--or any other company--from issuing films of this type and vintage.