Take a walk on the wild side (He Walked By Night (DVD))

Member Name: Ailran

Product:	He Walked By Night (DVD)
Date:	11/09/09 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Moody, tense and very well made

Disadvantages: None

He Walked By Night is a 1950's version of what is now called a docu-soap or a drama documentary. It takes a real life case from the Hollywood Division of the LAPD, a case they considered at the time to be one of their hardest ones to solve, and brings it to the big screen.

It tells the story of Ray Martin (Richard Basehart, the only name I recognise in the cast list), a seemingly mild mannered inventor who is spotted breaking into a store by a Policeman on his way home. When stopped and questioned his response is to pull a gun and blast away at his erstwhile questioner.

A citywide alert is put out and a net starts closing in on Martin. He is a clever man though and has ways of staying one step ahead of the dragnet surrounding him. It may be commonplace now but his use of a tinkered radio to tune into the police radio and listen in to their activities was something they didn't expect back then. Only his genius enabled him to build his own version so that he could stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

He Walked By Night is a film noir styled telling of a true story. It has an official sounding voice over that dictates, in a staccato like fashion, the facts of the case. It reminds me of the style of Dragnet, the much loved American TV series of the 50's, or at least I imagine it is having never seen the TV show. It is very like the Dragnet radio show from the 40's and 50's though so I would imagine it is the same.
'Just the facts ma'm' was the catchphrase of that series and the style of HWBN seems to be very much based on that idea. The radio series followed the same format and style, taking real cases and dramatising them in such a way as to tell the story and show how good the police were at catching crooks while also entertaining.

While the film is obviously dramatised (so much of what they show has to have been surmised rather than known) it has that police procedural feel to it that gives it a real sense of authenticity to it.

The director concentrates on creating an atmosphere of tension and despair in Ray Martin, as he tries to escape the forces of law that are on his trail. Mix it in with the desperation and intensity of the Police and FBI who are determined to catch the man that so brutally murdered their colleague and fellow official of the law.

Basehart benefits from a script that focuses mainly on his actions and he uses this to his advantage. Even though he is the bad guy in the story he is also the only character you get any real handle on, you still will not like him but he is the only one more than a cardboard cut out like character. As Ray Martin Basehart really does make you squirm and twist and getting angry with the ever encroaching police every time he manages to slip their grasp, sometimes through blind luck, sometimes through clever thinking.

The final scene, reminiscent of the end game of Orson Welles' classic British spy thriller The Third Man, is movie making at its cheapest and at its most thrilling. As the net closes in on Ray the tension and you get totally caught up in the moment. You can almost smell the sweat dripping from his brow and your arm hairs tingle at the nervous energy exploding out from those that are trying to capture him.

The rat-a-tat storytelling style is what made this an enjoyable film. Most of the actual plot is basic crime reporting done movie style. Nothing that hasn't been done before, or after, this was made but done in such a way that it is at least a little bit different.
That is not a real complaint though as there is rarely a new and novel approach to storytelling, or in the stories told, these days. Crime and mystery thrillers have been around so long now that the interest comes in the storytelling flourishes of the director and the writer.
With this in mind HWBN has a style to it that makes it well worth watching, at least if you are interested in 50's film noir movies that don't quite follow the standard, and expected, formula of that genre.

Summary: The tale of a police manhunt