November Nights: He Walked By Night (1948)

RODNEY BOWCOCK: He Walked By Night is a semi-documentary film noir directed by Alfred Werker (Moon Over Her Shoulder amongst many, many others) and an uncredited Anthony Mann (who may have shot a few scenes of the movie, or may have shot as much as a third, although some reviewers have an unplausible theory that Mann reshot the ENTIRE film), this is the gritty, dirty story of Roy Martin (Richard Basehart), an unscrupulous burglar turned cop-killer and the lengths that the LAPD has to go to in order to capture him.

SAMANTHA GLASSER: It is interesting to me that this film is often lauded as a film noir, because in my eyes it feels more like a documentary. It doesn't have the shadowy artistic intention that comes to mind when I think of the genre. It has some grit, but the punches have been pulled. The scene where Roy roughs up Paul Reeves should have been intense with the knowledge that Roy could easily kill him, but instead we get a clearly faked fight that is over too quickly.

RB: I think the film DOES maintain many of the hallmarks of a noir film, although, I’ll leave it to those more versed in what actually constitutes a noir film in 2025 to make that determination, as I’ll just note that these films were never put into a category aside from crime films when they were released, and leave it at that. Yes, there are hallmarks of the shoestring budget that it was shot on (such as the fight scene that you note), which is to be expected since Eagle-Lion was the evolution of what just a couple of years earlier was PRC.

SG: The movie is based on a real person, Erwin Walker, so I have to assume that the opening scene really happened, but I found the criminal's knee-jerk reaction to be idiotic and sloppy. A seasoned criminal knows how the system works and knows how to work around it. He would have known that not having an ID on his person was no reason to arrest someone, and that there was no evidence of the crime he failed to commit on his person. I also got frustrated with the police for how many times they entered unsecured and unfamiliar spaces where they could easily be targeted, like when officers followed Roy who was known to be armed into the sewer.

RB: In many ways, this film was the inspiration for Jack Webb to create Dragnet, which makes it responsible for most of the police procedural dramas that we have today. If you spend any time listening to, or watching Dragnet, each episode is riddled with things that would never happen in today’s justice system. That said, Erwin Walker himself testified that he had actually shot an officer twice who had simply asked him for his identification. He was likely suffering under PTSD and, later, after his arrest and conviction was diagnosed with paranoid-schizophrenia. Interestingly, after his 1974 release from prison, Walker changed his name, became a chemist and died in 2008.

SG: Richard Basehart, who portrayed Walker, hailed from Zanesville, Ohio, and this film played at the Liberty Theater in his hometown starting February 27, 1949. He went on to play killers in Roseanna McCoy and Tension, which could have left him typecast playing evil characters, but his ability and intelligence caused him to push for diverse parts. Basehart's father Harry was the editor The Sunday Times Signal, but had dabbled in acting, and pushed his son into summer stock when he was 13. He got his break on Broadway in The Hasty Heart playing a Scottish character. To accomplish the accent, he imitated British actor William Fyffe's brogue from To the Victor. His first film role was in Repeat Performance in 1947, a film Cinevent screened in 2018.

RB: Basehart is likely known today, especially among Baby Boomers, for portraying the lead in the beloved Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea TV series from 1964-1968. While he did a fair amount of voice-over work in his career, radio credits are surprisingly scant, although he gives a good performance in the January 21, 1952 episode of Suspense, also portraying a cold-blooded killer.

SG: Michael Hayde, author of My Name's Friday: The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb, said, "The film is tautly directed, rapidly paced, and the location shooting--particularly at the climax-- adds to the suspense. About the only real flaw is Brady's utter lack of charisma." I found myself taken in by Brady, not so much for his performance, but because of his resemblance to Ray Liotta. I especially enjoyed the scene where he dressed up as the milkman to find Roy's apartment. The ending is a grand finale, but not an entirely satisfying conclusion. I would have liked a little wrap-up of the case by the police, since we have been following on their side for the entirety of the film.

RB: This film employs an interesting tactic, because we’d typically expect to follow one specific police officer through the film, but it varies by scene and incident in this film. I didn’t really notice this while viewing the film, it was only upon later reflection.

SG: The opening credits have a disclaimer about the cooperation with the LAPD for the making of the movie. It ends with the line "Only the names have been changed-- to protect the innocent." If that verbiage sounds familiar, it's because it could be heard on every episode of Dragnet. This is the film that gave Jack Webb the idea for the show. LAPD Sergeant Martin Wynn was the technical advisor. Webb was an up-and-coming auteur who followed people around the set absorbing as much information as he could from the director, set designers and consultants. During a conversation with Wynn, Webb learned that real policemen hated radio shows about crime and policing because they were all flash and no realism, and Webb's show Pat Novak For Hire was cited as an example. For Dragnet, he used real police files and consultation with the police department to make the show, and was sure to include the grunt work of researching the criminals' histories, making phone calls and interviewing witnesses to provide realism. He plays a lab tech in He Walked By Night and provides some of the behind-the-scenes exposition for the film. Police agencies embraced the film, and in New Orleans, a police training program screened it for the recruits at the Joy Theatre.

RB: I just want to say, Pat Novak is absolutely fantastic. It’s practically a spoof of the hard-boiled detective radio dramas, and there’s no way that the tongue of the writer and cast wasn’t at least partially in cheek during those episodes. It’s a real hoot, and I’m sorry that the fuzz didn’t appreciate it.

SG: I like it too. I really enjoy anything with Jack Webb. Fellow old time radio fans can catch a glimpse of Queen For a Day's Jack Bailey as one of the witnesses. Fans of Byron Fougler will not be disappointed either; he has a small role working the front desk at a police department.

RB: Byron’s wife, Dorothy Adams also has a small role as a paranoid housewife, making this a real family affair.

SG: Movieland's reviewer said, "Richard Basehart as the killer turns in a magnificent performance. The ending is violent enough to pull patrons from their seats — and when actors can do that, boy, that’s really acting!"

RB: While Eagle-Lion touted themselves at making higher class films than PRC, this film like so many in the same genre was released to little fanfare at all, and bypassed many of the big cities right away, moving straight to the neighborhood theaters. It’s a gritty, dirty, lowbudget film that is not without its flaws, but also full of irresistible elements to fans of the genre. 3.5 stars.

SG: I enjoyed this watch, but I can't say this was quite the classic noir I thought it would be. 3.5 stars.