Movie Review: He Walked by Night

Movie Review: He Walked by Night (1948) directed by Alfred Werker

Los Angeles, California, late 1945. An LAPD patrol car spots a man standing in front of a closed electronics store. He hurriedly walks away, but the patrol officer follows and asks him questions. When the man is asked for identification, he instead pulls a gun and shoots the policeman. The wounded officer manages to prevent the man from escaping in a car, but not from fleeing on foot, and the patrolman dies of his wounds.

Police captain Breen (Roy Roberts) assigns Detective Sergeants Marty Brennan (Scott Brady) and Chuck Jones (James Cardwell) to the case. It’s soon established that the suspect’s car was stolen. It had a small arsenal, a piece of Navy surplus electronic technology, and nitroglycerine in the trunk. In the nearby bushes are found a lockpick set and cloth gloves. No prints on anything, and the description of the killer is pretty general. It is mentioned that he had a pencil mustache.

Cut to a man who is now clean-shaven, smiling as he hears the description. This is Roy Martin, born Roy Morgan (Richard Baseheart). He’s a clever, ruthless loner whose only companion is his dog. (The dog does not die.) Roy’s been burglarizing electronics, refurbishing them, and then renting them out on commission to an electronics supplier named Paul Reeves (Whit Bissell). Reeves is a bit naive and bought Martin’s story of them being military surplus bought with a veteran’s stipend.

The first break in the case comes when one of the burglary victims uses some detective work of his own to prove that one of the devices in Reeves’ shop is his stolen property. The police set a trap at Reeves’ business, but Martin arrives early. In the ensuing shootout, Jones is crippled.

Thanks to excellent lab work by technician Lee Whitey (Jack Webb), evidence is gathered. Martin switches up his modus operandi by staging a series of liquor store robberies, using simple disguises to make him harder to identify. Despite this, the police are able to piece together a decent likeness, only to discover that no one in the underworld has any idea who Martin is, and he doesn’t seem to have a record.

After a month on the case, and taking it too personally, Sergeant Brennan is placed on leave by Captain Breen. Brennan visits the recuperating Jones, who has been following the investigation as well. Martin is too clever, too able to predict what the police will do. It’s as though he knows all their methods…could he be…a cop?! With this, Martin’s past is a bit easier to trace, and the dragnet closes in.

There’s a thrilling climax in the storm drains of Los Angeles, and the case is closed.

This movie was based on a true story, with the names being changed “to protect the innocent.” His work on this film and interactions with the LAPD technical advisor inspired Jack Webb to create the radio and TV series Dragnet. As such, it’s a police procedural, emphasizing the proper steps the officers use to investigate the case and the hours put in. It doesn’t speculate on Martin’s motives for turning to crime, and he has a minimum of dialogue, silent interactions with his dog being his one humanizing thing.

The movie is well shot and uses its scenes to move the story along. There are little humanizing moments for the police characters, but not much character development. A couple of moments are a bit humorous. George Chan plays a Chinese man swept up in the initial dragnet. He’s being very cooperative, but in a language none of the police officers know. Dorothy Adams has a bit as a housewife who thinks her landlady is poisoning her milk. (Brennan, disguised as a milkman, suggests switching the bottles.)

Content note: At one point Martin is shot and has to remove a bullet by himself. The actual process is just offscreen, and we see his face and upper chest while he’s operating. Gun violence results in other deaths.

Overall: A well-done police procedural. Recommended for fans of that sort of thing, and especially fans of Dragnet.