Noir City DC: He Walked By Night

The past two weekends meant it was time for me to spend some significant time at the AFI Silver for the annual Noir City DC film festivals.  Unfortunately, it came at the end of being furloughed for almost three weeks, so I wasn't immediately in the mood for film noir the first weekend (further hampered by showing 2 John Garfield movies, pass).  However, I did get there on the first Saturday to see a great noir gem : He Walked by Night.  The basic plot is Richard Basehart plays a mechanically gifted burglar who recently graduated to murder (by shooting a police officer, bad move Richard) and the efforts of the police to catch him.  So the plot isn't that revolutionary, however, there are a few times about this movie that makes is really stand out.  It was one of the first noir movies that had an emphasis on the police work required to solve the case.  There is this cool scene where the police are trying to make a composite sketch of Richard Basehart.  So all the witnesses come into a room and they use slides with different eyes, hairlines/hairstyles, noses, chins, and lips to make a sketch versus trying to have each witness sit down with an artist (also, not one single witness gets a really good look at him during the robbery spree).  In this movie, you can really see the bones on the procedural drama, especially when you learn that Jack Webb was very inspired by this movie (he plays a lab tech) to create Dragnet (including that there is a line along of the lines of "Let's set up a dragnet").  Another standout is the gorgeous black and white shots of the city of Los Angelos (in the 40s).   Related to the cinematography,  are the scenes shot in the tunnels of LA.  Richard Basehart used the subterranean tunnels to move around the city quickly and without getting caught.  And the final showdown with the police takes place in the tunnels which seems to have heavily inspired the final act in The Third Man in which Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) chases his corrupt friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in the tunnels under Vienna.  Also, those tunnels play a role in the 1950s nuclear paranoia flick Them! (which is also great!).  All in all, the movie is enjoyable and it is fun to see a early movie that had an impact on later movies.