He Walked by Night (1948)

Director:

Alfred L. Werker

Writers:

Crane Wilbur (story)
Crane Wilbur (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 August 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Savage! ... Searing! ... True!

Plot:

This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Criminal | Electronics | Murderer | Murder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Richard Basehart	...	Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
Scott Brady	...	Sgt. Marty Brennan
Roy Roberts	...	Capt. Breen
Whit Bissell	...	Paul Reeves
James Cardwell	...	Sgt. Chuck Jones (as Jimmy Cardwell)
Jack Webb	...	Lee

Also Known As:

The L.A. Investigator (USA) (working title)
Twenty-Nine Clues (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1952) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #13565) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bryan Foy Productions

Trivia:

Technical advisor for the film was Sgt. Marty Wynn of the Los Angeles Police Dept. During the course of shooting he fell into conversation with Jack Webb, then the star of radio's "Jeff Regan, Private Investigator", who had a small part in the film. Wynn suggested that Webb do a radio series based on actual police files. Thus was born the idea for "Dragnet," which debuted on NBC radio about four months after this film was released.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When running through the sewers, electric cords powering the the flashlights are visible

Quotes:

Narrator: [Referring to the composite sketch] They showed that picture to the inmates of jails and prisons, to men with a wide acquaintance among the cat burglars and the violence boys, informers, con men, and sharpshooters - those on the fringe of crime and those deep in the rackets. Many wanted to help - nobody could! No one in the Underworld recognized that mysterious face. He was as unknown as if he had lived in the 16th Century.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Here's a version of the real story

I've seen this film two or three times, and I keep wondering Why did "Roy" do any of the things he did? What was his motivation? Strangely, we aren't even offered a guess by anyone in the film.

Intrigued by the statement that the film is "based on a true story," I did some research. Apparently the real-life Roy was named Erwin Walker -- aka "Machine Gun" Walker. Honest.

Walker was indeed a World War II vet, a former Glendale PD radio dispatcher, and a brilliant student at Cal Tech. The true story is even better than the film: Walker wasn't killed by police, and managed to evade the death penalty with a plea of insanity. Better yet, he was subsequently released, and has lived, somewhere, among us.

You can read a first-person account of Walker here (as long as the link remains good): http://www.epinions.com/content_3817054340 .