He Walked by Night (1948)

Year: 1948

IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

Genres: Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Directors: Anthony Mann, Alfred L. Werker

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

In post WW II, Los Angeles, a cop's killed in the middle of the night. With no leads, the chief of police assigns Sgts. Jones and Brennan to investigate and apprehend the killer. They target low-level criminals, such as Paul Reeves, hoping he'll lead them to bigger fish, specially, the one who shot and killed the cop.

He Walked by Night is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film, shot in a semidocumentary tone, is loosely based on the real-life actions of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former Glendale, California police department employee and World War II veteran who unleashed a crime spree of burglaries, robberies and shootouts in the Los Angeles area between 1945 and 1946. During production, actor Jack Webb met the film's police technical advisor Marty Wynn and was inspired by a conversation with Wynn to create the radio program Dragnet, which later became the first modern police television drama. He Walked by Night was released by Eagle-Lion Films. The film is notable for its camerawork by renowned film noir cinematographer John Alton. Today the film is in the public domain.

Title: He Walked by Night Summary: This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop. Directed by: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann Actors: Production Company: Bryan Foy Productions Release Date: 10 May 1949 (Argentina) Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1 In the Post-World War II, in Los Angeles, a criminal shoots and kills a police officer in the middle of the night. Without any leads, the chief of the LAPD assigns Sgt. Chuck Jones and Sgt. Marty Brennan to investigate the murder and apprehend the culprits. When the dealer of electronics devices, Paul Reeves, is caught selling a stolen projector, the police identifies the criminal, and connects him to other unsolved robberies. Using the witnesses of his heists, they draw their face, but the true identity of the smart and intelligent criminal is not disclosed. The perseverance of Sgt. Marty Brennan in his investigation gives a clue where he might live.