He Walked by Night (1948): watch the full film free, legally

A killer who knows police procedure

He Walked by Night is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and by Anthony Mann, who was uncredited. Released by Eagle-Lion Films, it was shot in a semidocumentary tone and features camerawork by film noir cinematographer John Alton. The film is loosely based on the actions of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former Glendale, California police department employee and World War II veteran whose burglaries, robberies and shootings affected the Los Angeles area between 1945 and 1946.

During production, Jack Webb met police technical advisor Marty Wynn. A conversation with Wynn inspired Webb to create the radio program Dragnet, which later became the first modern police television drama. Webb appears in the film as forensics specialist Lee Whitey, while Reed Hadley is the narrator. Richard Basehart plays Roy Martin, also known as Roy Morgan, and Scott Brady plays Sgt. Marty Brennan.

Clues in a Los Angeles investigation

Officer Rob Rawlins, a patrolman heading home after work, stops a man he suspects is a burglar on a Los Angeles street. The man shoots Rawlins, mortally wounding him, and the small clues initially lead nowhere. Detectives Marty Brennan and Chuck Jones take the case against Roy Morgan, a resourceful suspect with no known criminal past. Morgan hides in a Hollywood bungalow, listens to police calls through a custom radio, and has only his small dog for companionship.

Morgan sends stolen electronic equipment to Paul Reeves, an electronics dealer who fences the property. When Reeves faces possible prosecution, he agrees to cooperate with the police. Brennan and Jones stake out Reeves's office, intending to arrest and question Morgan, but Morgan suspects their plan. In the resulting shootout, Jones is paralyzed and Morgan is wounded. Morgan removes the bullet himself rather than seek hospital treatment, where the wound would be reported.

Knowing police procedure, Morgan changes his methods and turns to armed robbery. After one robbery, police recover a casing ejected from his gun. Lee Whitey compares its ejector marks with evidence from the shooting of Rawlins and the wounding of Jones, tying the crimes to one suspect. Captain Breen gathers witnesses, who help Whitey create a composite sketch. Reeves identifies Morgan from it, then alerts officers when Morgan tries to force details of the investigation from him.

The case stalls because police do not know Morgan has inside knowledge of their work, and Breen reassigns Brennan for poor performance. Jones urges his partner to stop treating the investigation personally. Brennan learns that Morgan had worked as a civilian radio technician for a local police department before being drafted into the army. He obtains Morgan's address through the post office and goes undercover as a milkman to inspect the apartment before a planned raid.

Variety praised its tension and craft

Variety called the film a “high-tension crime thriller,” describing it as “supercharged with violence but sprung with finesse.” The magazine credited the writers, Werker and a small cast led by Basehart, and said the story builds momentum through the contrast between the killer's ingenuity and police efficiency. It also praised the realistic camera work and solid score.

Variety said Basehart heavily overshadowed the rest of the cast, while calling Brady, Roy Roberts as Captain Breen, and James Cardwell as Sgt. Chuck Jones highly competent. Whit Bissell plays Reeves. In 1949, Werker received the Locarno International Film Festival Special Prize for Best Police Film.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “He Walked by Night”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.