He Walked by Night and "police noir"

[MikeBSG]

I forgot that "He Walked By Night" was on TCM last night and came into it about 10 minutes late. I watched it for about 40 minutes. I thought the scene in which Basehart did surgery on himself was very intense but while it was fun to see Basehart and Whit Bissell, this movie reminded me of what Sheldon Wigod, who used to run the New Mayfield Repertory Cinema back in Cleveland said back in the 80s.

He hated to run movies like "Kiss of Death" or any kind of realistic film noir because he said that viewers could watch that any night of the week on TV in color.

And as I watched "He Walked by Night," I kept thinking that this could be the first half of a "Law and Order" episode.

I like "The Naked City" and "Call Northside 777" (which isn't exactly about police) but I know that some people are bored stiff by them. Where do you come down on the issue of "police noir" or semi-documentary noir?

[Dewey1960]

Hi Mike - I'd have to take issue with the assertion that HE WALKED BY NIGHT is fundamentally a police film. Despite the fact that the story involves the pursuit of a psychotic criminal, the focus is clearly on the criminal; Basehart, being a phenomenal actor, becomes the most fascinating character in the film. The police, as presented, are barely competent and definitely dull, at least by contrast. But what takes this film so totally out of the realm of the "docu-drama" is the stylized direction of (the uncredited) Anthony Mann and the beautifully expressionistic cinematography of John Alton. The combination of those two elements make this film a top noir masterpiece.

[mrsl]

I love all movies about dissecting crime and finding the 'perp' (or perpetrator). I also love all those TV crime shows except the CSI ones. For some reason, I don't get into forensics as they show them, but I love the forensics parts on NCIS with Ducky and Abby. Also, I never got into Law & Order CI Criminal Intent, because that original lead guy gives me the heebie-jeebies. But I watch Cold Case, Without a Trace, Law & Order: SVU, and the original Law & Order, Criminal Minds, NUMB3RS, and whatever I might have missed.

I love the logical placement of events and how it leads to the criminal.

Anne

[ChiO]

The Mann/Alton collaboration may be the best (relatively) sustained pairing of director-cinematographer in film history (oh, sit down, you Bergman-Nykvist fans) or at least in film noir. Of the six films they made together, HE WALKED BY NIGHT is my favorite, though RAW DEAL (made the same year) isn't too far behind. I agree with Dewey that this is not a police-noir. Of their films, T-MEN or possibly BORDER INCIDENT may be the closest to one. The criminal, Basehart, is the focus throughout and he gives a performance justifying every moment of screen time.

Not to ignore the stylings of Whit Bissell, Roy Roberts and Jack Webb.

[moira finnie]

He hated to run movies like "Kiss of Death" or any kind of realistic film noir because he said that viewers could watch that any night of the week on TV in color.

Gee, if only the average tv show had half the style of these older film noirs, and, as Dewey pointed out, artists like Mann and Alton!

I do get a boot out of the Louis de Rochemont school of docu-drama up to a point, and find the voice of God narration particularly amusing, along with frequent kowtowing to J. Edgar Hoover, the many montages of index cards of fingerprints, names and photos of known felons, malcontents, and commies that appear in these movies. The scientific/forensic aspect of investigative work seems so quaint, but interesting because of that too.

I think that is one reason why the faintly subversive He Walked By Night seems so intriguing since for all the science that is shown in the film, it is put to a nefarious purpose by the most compelling character, Richard Basehart, who, given this film, Tension, Fourteen Hours, and The House on Telegraph Hill, seems to deserve much more attention than he's ever received for this promising part of his career. And to think he wound up his career as a narrator on Knight Rider. Oy, what a world.

The juice of the story for this viewer is trying to figure out this enigmatic character who is so alone, (except for that dog begging for attention in one scene), so aloof, and seemingly so cold. The fact that little of his real inner thoughts are revealed make him much more interesting than the hard to distinguish cops, even when Scott Brady bites his lip and is photographed in closeup looking steamed. There just wasn't enough individuality in the policemen for me though there was one guy...

I also particularly liked the Jack Webb character who was a nice dweeb, but often the brightest guy in the room. Too bad Webb couldn't have had Anthony Mann direct his laughable yet strangely iconic Dragnet series. He might have seemed almost human.

Of course, I also like He Walked By Night for the presence of a very nervous and frequently sweaty Whit Bissell, a citizen caught in the middle.