The Prowler (1951 film)

Last updated
The Prowler
TheProwler'1951.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joseph Losey
Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo (uncredited)
Hugo Butler (a front for Trumbo)
Story by Robert Thoeren
Hans Wilhelm
Produced by Sam Spiegel
Starring Van Heflin
Evelyn Keyes
Cinematography Arthur C. Miller
Edited byPaul Weatherwax
Music by Lyn Murray
Production
company
Horizon Pictures
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • May 25, 1951 (1951-05-25)(United States)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Prowler is a 1951 American film noir thriller film directed by Joseph Losey that stars Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes. [1] The film was produced by Sam Spiegel (as S.P. Eagle) and was written by Dalton Trumbo. [2] Because Trumbo was blacklisted at the time, the screenplay was credited to his friend, screenwriter Hugo Butler, as a front. [3]

Contents

Plot

Webb Garwood, a disgruntled cop, is called to investigate a report of a peeping tom by Susan Gilvray, whose husband works nights as a radio personality. Webb falls in love with the young and attractive married woman. Obsessed, he woos her and, despite her initial reluctance, they begin an adulterous affair.

After Webb discovers Susan's husband has a life insurance policy, he concocts a scheme to cash in. One night, he makes noise outside Susan's house which suggests a prowler is nearby again. After he leaves, he hears the subsequent complaint reported from Susan's address in his police car. He returns to the house in his official capacity and again makes noise indicating a prowler. When Susan's husband comes outside armed, Webb hiding in the bushes kills him with his service revolver. Webb then wounds himself with the husband's pistol to make it appear the two had exchanged gunfire.

Webb's ruse fools a coroner's jury, partly because he and Susan testify that they did not know each other before her husband's death (although Webb's police partner knows otherwise).

At first Susan suspects Webb of foul play, but he convinces her of his innocence, and later, marries her. Shortly after the wedding, Susan informs Webb that she is four months pregnant. Since her husband was infertile, she knows that Webb is the baby's father. The date of the baby's conception would prove that they lied in their testimonies to hide their previous relationship; it also would suggest that Webb's killing of Susan's husband was intentional.

Webb and Susan flee to Calico, a ghost town, for the baby to be born without anyone back home knowing. They enjoy a happy life until Susan goes into premature labor. Webb drives to a nearby town and forces Dr. William James to come to Calico to help with the birth. Susan realizes that Webb intends to kill Dr. James to preserve their secret, so she warns the doctor, who escapes with the newborn, and Webb's Cadillac keys.

Susan tells Webb that she knows he intended to kill the doctor and that he intentionally murdered her husband. Realizing the doctor will send the police after him, Webb drives away, using the car's spare keys a disgusted Susan at first hid, and then threw on the floor, leaving Susan alone in Calico.

Webb finds the narrow track out of town blocked by his former police partner, who is paying him a surprise visit. While desperately trying to push his friend's reversing car with his own car's front bumper, Webb sees two police cars approaching so he heads for the hills on foot. After he refuses orders to surrender, a sheriff's deputy shoots him from afar. Webb was proud of his sharpshooting, but there's always someone equally good, or better.

Cast

Restoration

Since The Prowler was produced independently, there was no studio to help preserve it and it was considered "orphaned." After a time, there was only one print left, and this was deteriorating. However, the Film Noir Foundation and the UCLA Film and Television Archive partnered to restore the film. [4]

Hollywood Blacklist

Several crew members of The Prowler were adversely affected by the Hollywood Blacklist. Screenplay writer Dalton Trumbo, a member of the Hollywood 10, was forced to write under a pseudonym, using the name Hugo Butler, a friend of his. Butler would soon be blacklisted too, writing in exile for twelve years and using pseudonyms himself. In a twist of irony and a dig at censors, director Joseph Losey cast Trumbo as the voice of the radio DJ, John Gilvray. Losey would also be blacklisted shortly after directing the movie.

Production

Evelyn Keyes, under contract at Columbia, had long complained about the lack of challenging roles offered to her. When Sam Spiegel of Horizon Pictures (producers of the film for United Artists) bought this story, his partner at Horizon, John Huston, thought it would the perfect project for Keyes, his estranged wife. Although more famous for her role in Gone with the Wind, Keyes felt this to be the best role and best performance of her career. Of those working on the film, only Spiegel, Houston, and Losey knew that the screenwriter was the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. [5]

Release

The Prowler was theatrically released in the United States on 25 May 1951. [6]

Reception

Critical response

Critical reception for the film has been mostly positive. [7] The Prowler holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on eighteen reviews. [8]

In a contemporary review, The New York Times noted "an impressive drama." [9]

Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film, writing, "A neat noir thriller that has a slight variation on the Double Indemnity theme, this time it is the guy who is the seducer. This is a Joseph Losey American film, made before his self-exile from the 1950s HUAC witch hunt days when he fled to England. It is the director's aim to highlight social issues and class differences. They will play a major role in the motif, adding to the usual noir ones of dark character and sexual misconduct. Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted writer, is the uncredited co-writer of the script." [10]

Leonard Maltin awarded the film 3 out of a possible 4 stars, praising its camerawork and production design and calling the film "unusually nasty and utterly unpredictable". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalton Trumbo</span> American screenwriter (1905–1976)

James Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter who scripted many award-winning films, including Roman Holiday (1953), Exodus, Spartacus, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of alleged Communist influences in the motion picture industry.

<i>Gun Crazy</i> 1950 film by Joseph H. Lewis

Gun Crazy is a 1950 American crime film noir starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. It was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank and Maurice King.

<i>Roman Holiday</i> 1953 American romantic comedy by William Wyler

Roman Holiday is a 1953 American romantic comedy film directed and produced by William Wyler. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a princess out to see Rome on her own and Gregory Peck as a reporter. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance; the story and costume design also won.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Losey</span> American filmmaker and theatre director

Joseph Walton Losey III was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s, he moved to Europe where he made the remainder of his films, mostly in the United Kingdom. Among the most critically and commercially successful were the films with screenplays by Harold Pinter: The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971).

<i>The Killer That Stalked New York</i> 1950 film by Earl McEvoy

The Killer That Stalked New York is a 1950 American film noir directed by Earl McEvoy and starring Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin and William Bishop. The film, shot on location and in a semi-documentary style, is about diamond smugglers who unknowingly start a smallpox outbreak in the New York City of 1947. It is based on the real threat of a smallpox epidemic in the city, as described in a story taken from a 1948 Cosmopolitan magazine article.

Daniel Mainwaring was an American novelist and screenwriter.

<i>Tender Comrade</i> 1943 film by Edward Dmytryk

Tender Comrade is a 1943 black-and-white film released by RKO Radio Pictures, showing women on the home front living communally while their husbands are away at war.

<i>He Ran All the Way</i> 1951 film by John Berry

He Ran All the Way is a 1951 American crime drama and film noir directed by John Berry and starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. Distributed by United Artists, it was produced independently by Roberts Pictures, a company named for Garfield's manager and business partner, Bob Roberts, and bankrolled by Garfield.

<i>The Big Night</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Joseph Losey

The Big Night is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey, that features John Drew Barrymore, Preston Foster and Joan Lorring. The feature is based on a script written by Joseph Losey and Stanley Ellin, based on Ellin's 1948 novel Dreadful Summit. Hugo Butler and Ring Lardner, Jr. also contributed to the screenplay, but were uncredited when the film was first released owing to his Hollywood Ten conviction.

<i>Native Son</i> (1951 film) 1951 Argentine film

Native Son, also known as Sangre negra, is a 1951 Argentine black-and-white drama film directed by French filmmaker Pierre Chenal. It is based on the novel Native Son by American author Richard Wright, who also stars in the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Chenal. Actor Canada Lee, who was originally scheduled to play the film's protagonist Bigger Thomas, had difficulties with his visa while filming Cry, the Beloved Country (1951) in South Africa and had to decline the role; with the whole production in jeopardy due to the mishap, Wright decided to step in and replace Lee.

<i>One of the Hollywood Ten</i> 2000 Spanish film

One of the Hollywood Ten is a 2000 Spanish-British bio-picture. The film was written and directed by Karl Francis.

<i>Time Without Pity</i> 1957 British film by Joseph Losey

Time Without Pity is a 1957 British film noir thriller film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, Leo McKern, Paul Daneman, Peter Cushing, Alec McCowen and Renee Houston. It is about a father trying to save his son from execution for murder.

<i>The Sleeping Tiger</i> 1954 film by Joseph Losey

The Sleeping Tiger is a 1954 British film noir directed by Joseph Losey and starring Alexis Smith, Dirk Bogarde and Alexander Knox. It was Losey's first British feature, which he directed under the pseudonym of Victor Hanbury due to being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era. It was shot at Walton Studios and on location in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll. It was released by Anglo-Amalgamated while in America it was distributed by Astor Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film gris</span> Film genre

Film gris, a term coined by experimental filmmaker Thom Andersen, is a type of film noir which categorizes a unique series of films that were released between 1947 and 1951. They came in the context of the first wave of the communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee, often made by associates, fellow travellers and supporters of the convicted Hollywood Ten.

<i>Mr. Soft Touch</i> 1949 film by Gordon Douglas, Henry Levin

Mr. Soft Touch is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas and Henry Levin and starring Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes. The film is also known as House of Settlement.

<i>The Intimate Stranger</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by Joseph Losey

The Intimate Stranger is a 1956 British film noir drama film directed by Joseph Losey, and starring Richard Basehart, Mary Murphy, Constance Cummings and Roger Livesey. It was released in the U.S. as Finger of Guilt.

<i>The Lawless</i> 1950 film

The Lawless is a 1950 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey and features Macdonald Carey, Gail Russell and Johnny Sands.

Christopher Trumbo was an American television writer, screenwriter and playwright. Trumbo was considered an expert on the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist. His father, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, was blacklisted by Hollywood for nearly a decade for refusing to testify to Congress, as one of a group known as The Hollywood Ten.

<i>Trumbo</i> (2015 film) 2015 film directed by Jay Roach

Trumbo is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Jay Roach and written by John McNamara. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson, Dean O'Gorman as Kirk Douglas, and David James Elliott as John Wayne. The film follows the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and is based on the 1977 biography Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Alexander Cook.

<i>The Cavern</i> (1964 film) 1964 film

The Cavern is a 1964 Italian-German-American war-drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. This was his last film as a director. It was one of a number of war movies John Saxon made outside Hollywood.

References

  1. "The Prowler (1951) - Joseph Losey - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  2. "The Prowler (1950)". Archived from the original on August 11, 2016.
  3. Arnold, Jeremy. "The Prowler: Home Video Review". TCM. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  4. Axmaker, Sean. "The Prowler-The High Cost of Living a Lie: DVD of the Week". Parallax View. Sean Axmaker. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  5. Muller, Eddie. "Noir Alley:The Prowler (1951) intro 20180325". YouTube. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  6. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  7. "The Prowler (Cost of Living )". Rotten Tomatoes .
  8. "The Prowler". Rotten Tomatoes .
  9. "Unusual Drama Opens at Criterion". The New York Times. 2 July 1951.
  10. Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, February 2, 2000. Accessed: July 8, 2013.
  11. Jonathan Harchick (28 October 2013). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide: Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Createspace Independent Pub. ISBN   978-1-4936-2083-8.