HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948)

Starring Richard Basehart (Time Limit), Scott Brady (Undertow) and Jack Webb (Appointment with Danger), this film noir classic was the inspiration not only for TV’s Dragnet (also with Webb) but for many other subsequent “ripped-from-the-headlines” crime dramas. Taken from actual case files, He Walked by Night is the suspenseful, action-packed tale of a manhunt for the most cunning criminal in the history of the LAPD. With a combination of ingenuity, state-of-the-art technology, sweat and sheer determination, the police painstakingly track down a brilliant, elusive thief and cop-killer (chillingly played by Basehart in only his third film) who seems to have the ability to vanish into thin air. But can they catch him before he murders again? This gritty, groundbreaking police procedural features direction by Alfred L. Werker (Shock) and an uncredited Anthony Mann (T-Men) with stunning cinematography by John Alton (Raw Deal).