Rating: 
Summary: LA Crime, 40s Style
Review: Well--some reviewers consider "He Walked By Night" a masterpiece--at least one other reviewer called it "pathetic". From my three stars, you can guess that I am somewhere between these two extreme views. I can think of a number of 40s "film noir" melodramas that are superior to this one, but I still found it an interesting way of passing 80 minutes.With respect to acting honours, it is no contest. This is Richard Basehart's movie, hands down. His cold-blooded killer is a very different animal to some of the rough-looking types
( hello Rondo Hatton ) that inhabit some of these movies. We are reminded that, years before his TV fame on "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ", Richard Basehart was a very fine actor. I agree that most of the actors portraying "LA's finest" are stone-faced, cardboard cut-outs--Scott Brady and, of course, Jack Webb are wooden in the extreme. I thought that Roy Roberts fared a bit better, expressing emotion that seemed to be beyond the grasp of those zombies reporting to him. B-movie regular, Whit Bissell, is appropriately nervous as an electronics dealer, who finds he has been doing business with a killer. Also, if you are a B-movie buff, you will spot Kenneth Tobey as a cop, just a couple of years away from his encounter with "The Thing From Another World", and several other nasty, sci/fi creatures. I found the shots of LA in the 40s very interesting, and I love old cars, so the historical aspect was a plus for me. Of course, we are decades away from computers, so police methods in this film will seem very quaint to younger viewers. The "profile" scene is well done--various citizens are called in to help the police determine what Mr. Basehart looks like, and the results are very effective. The movie does generate a lot of suspense, and the final showdown in the drainage tunnels is well done. The DVD has a nice black and white picture--mono sound of course. If you like old-fashioned crime films, that do not wear out their welcome, this modestly-priced disc would fit in your collection. I would also not want to discourage MGM--or any other company--from issuing films of this type and vintage.
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