Another entry in the Film Noir of Anthony Mann collection is this B movie classic filmed in the same style as RAW DEAL and T-MEN. The visual elements are along the same lines as those films, but that’s where the similarities end. While RAW DEAL is a mob melodrama, and T-MEN is a undercover cop picture, HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a pure police procedural. In fact you could say that this film is a precursor to the long running police series DRAGNET. And to make it official, a young Jack Webb has a role in the film! A lot of controversy over the direction of the film as director Alfred Werker is credited, and Mann is not, though there is no doubt that this film is fully shot in Mann’s directorial style. Also, this story is supposedly a true-to-life event and to capture that the film is shot in documentary fashion. The Roan Group’s packaging for this DVD states that this film is a new digitally enhanced restored version of the film.

The film is fairly well-crafted, though there are some plot/logic flaws. A saving grace of the film is the debut performance of a young Richard Basehart (probably known best for his role as the submarine commander in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA TV series) as a WW2 army veteran who is also an ingenious, anti-social cop-killer named Roy Martin, and who is also is the center of an LA Police Department dragnet. Basehart successfully imbues the unbalanced character with lots of negative personality traits: alienation, paranoia, sociopathic tendencies, yet he is a caring dog-lover. There is not a lot of dialog for Basehart, so most of the drama comes from his nervous body language. The Roy Martin character is not only a brilliant electronics expert, but also a master of keeping one step ahead of the police. The character of Roy Martin is a prototype for Travis (TAXI DRIVER) Bickle and other similar crafty characters who consistently evade the police. Roy Martin has the police dumbfounded until the last few minutes of the movie!

The film also stars character actor Whit Bissell (who more than steals a few scenes) as Reeves, an electronics dealer that Richard Basehart’s character sells stolen electronic goods to. Jack Webb plays police lab specialist named Lee who delivers his lines in a similar fashion to his famous Sgt. Friday character. One downfall to the film is that the police officer (named Sgt. Marty Brennan) who finally discovers the mystery surrounding the killer, is a pretty-boy type actor named Scott Brady, who just strikes me as unbelievable as an intelligent criminal analyst. Unlike many other people from this film, I don’t believe Mr. Brady went on to a successful career anywhere, so I must not be the only one that was unimpressed with his performance. Actor Roy Roberts plays the police chief role of Captain Breen. There is also a narrator in the film who is voiced by Reed Hadley.

As the film begins, on the shadowy night streets of LA, a lone figure is spotted by a police patrol car peering into the window of a closed (for the evening) electronics shop. The patrol car pulls up to the man and the policeman demands to see his license. As the sharply dressed man reaches inside his coat pocket to presumably grab his license, he instead whips out a pistol and shots the cop at point blank range. The cop, though mortally wounded fires back at the fleeing figure. The cop manages to drive his patrol car down the street and into a parked car before he dies. LA police chief Captain Breen assigns square-jawed Sgt. Brennan to handle the cop killer case. But the killer manages to avoid detection by intercepting police radio calls, and by constantly altering his appearance.

Meanwhile, Reeves, an electronics dealer, tries to convince a brilliant young inventor (Richard Basehart) to join his company. The inventor states he is happy to just provide electronic goods as he wants to keep a low profile. The next day a buyer comes in to make a purchase, and finds out that the TV he is looking to purchase is the same as the one that was stolen from him! Reeves puts two-and-two together, and informs the police. The police have no clues on the identity of the killer, save for the fact that he is good with electronics. Sgt. Brennan and his partner team up with Reeves to bait Roy Martin into a trap. However, the plan backfires and Martin ends up shooting Sgt Brennan’s partner, and then escapes into the sewer system beneath the LA streets, but not before getting hit with a bullet himself.

Back at his apartment, Morgan performs surgery on himself (Terminator style) and removes the bullet. Having mastered the underground sewer routes, he becomes so confident he cannot be caught, he decides that the police are no longer a threat. He blatantly stages some daring daylight robberies, and eludes the police by using the vast sewer systems as an escape route. Even after having killed two policemen and numerous robberies, the police are still clueless (just like real police!). However, when Captain Breen invites the burglary victims to the police station, using state of the art police technology (for the time), they manage to produce a composite ID for Martin. Finally, the police are able to dig up some background information on the suspect, but now the race is on to track the stone cold killer before he can strike again.

There are shortcomings in the areas of character development and story, but the film’s strong suit is its look. Director Mann and cinematographer John Alton use excellent lighting, camera skills, and sheer black & white murkiness to achieve the noirish look. Despite the low budget, they find away to work around the limitations and give the story the authentication that it deserves. To heighten the tension, Mann uses no sound or score during the key scenes of the film, and the simple technique works. The main plot hole is the fact that the killer is a WW2 veteran gone bad. But why does he do the things he does? What happened to the man that turned him so ruthless? Screenwriters John Higgins and Crane Wilbur never explain it.

SIGHT

This 1948 film was most likely shot in 1.33.1 or 1.37.1 ratio and that is what Roan presents here. According to Roan Group’s packaging, this is supposed to be a cleaned-up digital remastering of the film (but this could an error on the packaging as the DVDs state that there is extra features on them, but I have yet to see any). But I have to tell you, this film does not look as good as the other films in the collection, such as RAW DEAL. The black and white imaging is very good, but there are considerable nics and scratches in the transfer. Film grain is much more evident this time around, but this is a 50 year old low budget film. The blacks and shadow detail are decent. In some areas of the film, the picture turns from the balanced black & white look and appears grayish. The detail level is also not as polished as RAW DEAL or T-MEN because the intended murkiness prevents it. There are numerous scenes of the police chasing Roy down dark wet tunnels followed by police searchlights cutting through the darkness. It is scenes like these (by cinematographer Alton) that shine and are done justice by this DVD transfer. I’m going to rate the video slightly less than RAW DEAL at a 2.5 which is still good overall for a film of this vintage.

SOUND

This soundtrack is mono and is a mixed bag. While the dialog comes though crisp and clear, other sounds come out as well, such as a constant hiss. While by itself it is not that distracting, but as mentioned earlier, to enhance the suspense, Mann keeps total silence over key scenes and this is when the hissing is most noticeable. I’ve heard some really good mono mixes on DVD, but this one is not among them. Composer Leonid Raab’s score is a little jazzy and a little generic, but it is definitely not overused. It works with the noirish elements and is nicely rendered in the mix. The ongoing narration comes through clearly in the mix and is at times annoying.

FEATURES

No extras. Part of the Film Noir of Anthony Mann box set along with T-MEN and RAW DEAL.

CONCLUSION

For those of you who enjoy black and white movies and enjoy viewing films with nostalgia in mind then you should seek this film out. Yes, HE WALKED BY NIGHT is a film worthy of recommendation, but Roan advertises it as digitally restored; to these eyes, the video is not up to the image quality of the unrestored companion films RAW DEAL and T-MEN. I’m being picky here, the film is still highly watchable to genre enthusiasts. Richard Basehart really shines despite the fact that his dialog is minimal. He gives a very animated, physical performance. I like the way in which he baffles the LA police department as they are supposed to be the biggest and best police force in the nation. I think the ROAN GROUP could have themselves a successful line of genre classics if they can add menus and of course extras features. Nothing fancy, no need to add a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, but some graphics, trailers, and other memorabilia would be nice.

 HE WALKED BY NIGHT is available at DVDEmpire

                                                Rating (out of 5):