HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Alfred L. Werker
Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts,
Whit Bissell, James Cardwell, Jack Webb
A noir procedural with the cops out to get an elusive criminal who uses the storm drains under Los Angeles to make his getaways. Apparently, Anthony Mann directed about half of this (the noir stuff with Richard Basehart) and Alfred L. Werker did the rest. The difference really shows. Basehart gives a chilling performance as the stickup artist/cop killer/crook, and a pre-"Dragnet" Jack Webb plays the LAPD's tech guy. The climactic chase through the storm-drain tunnels would seem to foreshadow "The Third Man".
