Mon 31 Dec 2018
FOLLOW ME QUIETLY. RKO Radio Pictures, 1949. William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, Nestor Paiva. Screenplay: Lillie Hayward, based on a story co-written by Anthony Mann. Director: Richard O. Fleischer.
Even though noir maven Eddie Muller recently showed this as part of his “Noir Alley” series on TCM, in his comments afterward he had to fess up and admit that Follow Me Quietly is not a noir film at all. Never the less, it’s a film that comes closer to noir than a lot of films that also aren’t but are dumped into the category anyway.
This is has little to do with the story line — if anything, this is nothing but a straight-forward police procedural — but it does have a lot to do with the filming, the stylish camera work and lighting, starting with the opening scene, as we watch girl reporter Ann Gorman (Dorothy Patrick)’s feet as she paces back and forth in the rain in front of a small diner while waiting for Lt. Harry Grant (William Lundingan) for some details of the case he’s currently working on.
The sending is quite striking, too, as we see Grant chasing down the serial killer he’s finally closing in on. The conclusion takes place in some sort of waterworks plant (?), which allows for scene after scene filled with spectacular background shots of pipes and conduits of some sort, railings and walkways, taken from all kinds of angles.
What comes in between? A fairly ordinary cop film, with an added plus of a romance between the two primary stars that’s only semi-convincing. One unusual visual aspect that I’ve never seen before is instead of the usual police artist’s rendition of the killer’s face (which no one still living has seen) is the creation of a three-dimensional rendition of his body in the form of a faceless dummy.
This leads to one chilling moment in the middle of the film, which I won’t tell you anything more about — it will more effective if you see it for yourself without warning — but one that’s negated (and truthfully, so is the entire film, if you think about it) when the strangler of at least seven people turns out to be a quiet nebbish sort of guy.
Lundigan was a competent actor but he was also probably too good-looking to be the primary protagonist in a noir film. Dorothy Patrick, on the other hand, an actress whom I don’t recall ever seeing before, does just fine as a pest of a reporter who’s always in his hair.
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December 31st, 2018 at 11:23 pm
I’ve seen this 59 minute film a couple times and it has a great villain with the cool name, The Judge. But as you point out he turns out to be sort of a disappointing guy.
I watched it on the Noir Alley program also, which is on TCM two times a week: Saturday at midnight and Sunday at 10 am. Eddie Muller’s extended comments are always of great interest to me, he usually talks about 7 or so minutes before the film and then another 7 minutes after the film.
IMDB gives it a 6.5 rating which is about what I give it. Frankly, despite the darkened office scenes and the creepy Judge dummy, there is no way that I consider this film noir. The two main characters are wholesome, cheerful and good looking. The dialog is breezy and snappy.
But it is a good crime drama with a couple noir elements.
January 1st, 2019 at 1:33 am
“Follow Me Quietly” falls into the tradition of Semi-Documentary Films. These are mainly crime films that combine a fictional story about the Government hunting crooks, with documentary aspects.
There is much debate about whether the Semi-Documentary Films are film noir or not. They have features in common with the main line of film noir, but are also distinctly different.
A list documenting features of this genre is on my website:
http://mikegrost.com/boucher.htm#Semidoc
January 1st, 2019 at 2:33 pm
Right you are, Mike, but I think the movie works better as a pseudo-noir than it does as a semi-documentary. But either way, the more we talk about it, the higher my opinion of it is going.
January 1st, 2019 at 4:46 am
I have complained before about very ordinary B&W crime films being passed of as “Noir” but I don’t think it will stop until Congress passes comprehensive legislation that provides for rehabilitation.
Till then, we’ll have to depend on excellent reviews like this.
January 1st, 2019 at 10:12 am
Uh oh. I guess I blew the gaffe about that “one chilling moment in the middle of the film, which I won’t tell you anything more about — it will be more effective if you see it for yourself without warning.” So Mystery*File readers who haven’t seen the movie are advised NOT to go here:
https://carrdickson.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-noir-film-or-maybe-it-isnt-that-isnt.html
January 1st, 2019 at 2:23 pm
A great review, Mike, “gaffe” blown or not!
January 1st, 2019 at 5:55 pm
It’s noir in the sense of HOUSE ON 92ND STREET, NAKED CITY, TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, and WALK EAST ON BEACON STREET. A whole subset of basic police procedural films that use much of the talent and many of the tropes of the genre.
Mostly this one is just a pretty good little film, MYSTERY STREET on a smaller budget.