Richard Basehart

Scott Brady

Roy Roberts

Whit Bissell

James Cardwell

Jack Webb

Reed Hadley

Frank Cady

Dorothy Adams

Jane Adams

Jack Bailey

Alma Beltran

Robert Bice

Dolores Castelli

George Chan

Garrett Craig

John Dehner

Ann Doran

Rex Downing

Michael Dugan

Paul Fierro

Byron Foulger

Kay Garrett

Tim Graham

Kit Guard

Harry Harvey

Thomas Browne Henry

Peter Hobbes

Virginia Hunter

Felice Ingersoll

Anthony Jochim

Stan Johnson

Louise Kane

Tommy Kelly

Donald Kerr

Charles Lang

Lyle Latell

Rory Mallinson

Billy Mauch

John McGuire

Charles Meredith

Carlotta Monti

Bert Moorhouse

Howard Negley

James Nolan

John Parrish

Steve Pendleton

John Perri

Paul Scardon

Kenneth Tobey

Wally Vernon

Harlan Warde

Mary Ware

Robert B. Williams

Harry Wilson

Crane Wilbur

John C. Higgins

Alfred DeGaetano

Robert Kane

Bryan Foy

John Alton

Alfred L. Werker

Harry Essex

Leonid Raab

Edward L. Ilou

Joe Stinton

Ern Westmore

Armor Marlowe

Howard W. Koch

Hugh McDowell Jr.

Clarence Steensen

Leon Becker

James T. Vaughn

Lester Shorr

Stewart Stern

Thriller

Crime

He Walked by Night

Bryan Foy Productions

Eagle-Lion Films

United States of America

Lone bandit evades police clutches.

This is a true story...

It's known to the Police Department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience. Principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer.....The record is set down here factually-as it happened. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Cracking little noir picture this one. Richard Baseheart is Davis Morgan, a cold and calculated thief and murderer. He is not only unknown to the police, but also to the Los Angeles underworld. Something which made him a terrifying ghost on the streets. Based on the real life case of cop-killer come thief Erwin Walker, who in 1946 struck terror into the heart of LA, He Walked By Night zips along at a frenetic pace but maintains all the darkness requisites of the Film Noir genre. Directed by Alfred Walker (aided by one uncredited Anthony Mann) and also starring Jack Webb (who used the piece as inspiration for the popular "Dragnet" TV series), the picture has excellent use of shadows and a brilliant finale down in the Los Angeles drainage system. Where the sound of guns and running feet is just ferocious. 

Baseheart is suitably chilling as a man coming unhinged by the day, whilst a home surgery sequence shows Baseheart to have had no small amount of ability. It's notable with Morgan's character that it's people he just doesn't like, there's a very telling scene with his dog that is sweet but at the same time saying so much about the man himself. This film reminded me very much of Edward Dmytryk's similarly fine 1952 film, The Sniper. So much so I'd say that as a double bill they be perfect for each other. With added plot worth in the form of early police forensics (check out the photo fit technique) and a largely unknown support cast adding a raw reality to proceedings, He Walked By Night comes highly recommended to fans of the Noir and Crime genres. 8/10

CinemaSerf

This is actually quite a decent little murder mystery featuring the usually pretty uncharismatic Richard Basehart as a petty thief who kills a cop. The police chief allocates two detectives - Scott Brady and James Cardwell - with the seemingly impossible task of tracking down the criminal for a crime that nobody saw/heard etc... They start off by trawling the usual suspects and gradually begin to piece it together and to see the light. It's tensely directed with lots of help from Leonid Raab's score; some suitably eerie lighting and Crane Wilbur's adaptation of his own story is a bit more complex giving the investigator's characters a little more substance than usual. Although the ending does rather let it down somewhat, it still makes for quite an entertaining 80 minutes.

English

He Walked by Night (1948) - ClassicFlix Trailer