He Walked by Night 1949
7.1 / 10
He Walked by Night
Roy Martin aka Roy Morgan is a burglar and former war-time Radio & Electronics Engineer who listens in to radio police calls, allowing him to stay one step ahead of the cops.
Roy Martin aka Roy Morgan is a burglar and former war-time Radio & Electronics Engineer who listens in to radio police calls, allowing him to stay one step ahead of the cops.
Videos & Photos
All 1 Videos & 10 Photos
cast
Full Cast & Crew
... Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
... Police Sgt. Marty Brennan
... Police Captain Breen
... Paul Reeves
... Police Sgt. Chuck Jones
... Lee Whitey
User reviews
See All 2 Reviews23 Jun 2021 by John Chard
Lone bandit evades police clutches. This is a true story... It's known to the Police Department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience. Principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer.....The record is set down here factually-as it happened. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Cracking little noir picture this one. Richard Baseheart is Davis Morgan, a cold and calculated thief and murderer. He is not only unknown to the police, but also to the Los Angeles underworld. Something which made him a terrifying ghost on the streets. Based on the real life case of cop-killer come thief Erwin Walker, who in 1946 struck terror into the heart of LA, He Walked By Night zips along at a frenetic pace but maintains all the darkness requisites of the Film Noir genre. Directed by Alfred Walker (aided by one uncredited Anthony Mann) and also starring Jack Webb (who used the piece as inspiration for the popular "Dragnet" TV series), the picture has excellent use of shadows and a brilliant finale down in the Los Angeles drainage system. Where the sound of guns and running feet is just ferocious. Baseheart is suitably chilling as a man coming unhinged by the day, whilst a home surgery sequence shows Baseheart to have had no small amount of ability. It's notable with Morgan's character that it's people he just doesn't like, there's a very telling scene with his dog that is sweet but at the same time saying so much about the man himself. This film reminded me very much of Edward Dmytryk's similarly fine 1952 film, The Sniper. So much so I'd say that as a double bill they be perfect for each other. With added plot worth in the form of early police forensics (check out the photo fit technique) and a largely unknown support cast adding a raw reality to proceedings, He Walked By Night comes highly recommended to fans of the Noir and Crime genres. 8/10
Release Date:
Feb 06, 1949 (United States)
Run Time:
1hr 19`
MMPA Rating:
NR
Original Language:
English
Production Countries:
United States
Status:
Released
Plot Keywords:
Related Movies To
He Walked by Night
Lone bandit evades police clutches. This is a true story... It's known to the Police Department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience. Principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer.....The record is set down here factually-as it happened. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Cracking little noir picture this one. Richard Baseheart is Davis Morgan, a cold and calculated thief and murderer. He is not only unknown to the police, but also to the Los Angeles underworld. Something which made him a terrifying ghost on the streets. Based on the real life case of cop-killer come thief Erwin Walker, who in 1946 struck terror into the heart of LA, He Walked By Night zips along at a frenetic pace but maintains all the darkness requisites of the Film Noir genre. Directed by Alfred Walker (aided by one uncredited Anthony Mann) and also starring Jack Webb (who used the piece as inspiration for the popular "Dragnet" TV series), the picture has excellent use of shadows and a brilliant finale down in the Los Angeles drainage system. Where the sound of guns and running feet is just ferocious. Baseheart is suitably chilling as a man coming unhinged by the day, whilst a home surgery sequence shows Baseheart to have had no small amount of ability. It's notable with Morgan's character that it's people he just doesn't like, there's a very telling scene with his dog that is sweet but at the same time saying so much about the man himself. This film reminded me very much of Edward Dmytryk's similarly fine 1952 film, The Sniper. So much so I'd say that as a double bill they be perfect for each other. With added plot worth in the form of early police forensics (check out the photo fit technique) and a largely unknown support cast adding a raw reality to proceedings, He Walked By Night comes highly recommended to fans of the Noir and Crime genres. 8/10
This is actually quite a decent little murder mystery featuring the usually pretty uncharismatic Richard Basehart as a petty thief who kills a cop. The police chief allocates two detectives - Scott Brady and James Cardwell - with the seemingly impossible task of tracking down the criminal for a crime that nobody saw/heard etc... They start off by trawling the usual suspects and gradually begin to piece it together and to see the light. It's tensely directed with lots of help from Leonid Raab's score; some suitably eerie lighting and Crane Wilbur's adaptation of his own story is a bit more complex giving the investigator's characters a little more substance than usual. Although the ending does rather let it down somewhat, it still makes for quite an entertaining 80 minutes.
Cast & Crew of
He Walked by Night
Directors & Credit Writers
Cast
... Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
... Police Sgt. Marty Brennan
... Police Captain Breen
... Paul Reeves
... Police Sgt. Chuck Jones
... Lee Whitey
... Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
... Pete Hammond
... Dunning
... Milk Customer
... Nurse Scanion (uncredited)
... Witness in Pajamas and Robe (uncredited)
AB
Alma Beltran... Miss Montalvo (uncredited)
... Detective with Capt. Breen (uncredited)
... Witness (uncredited)
GC
George Chan... Chinese Suspect (uncredited)
... Patrolman (uncredited)
... Assistant Bureau Chief (uncredited)
... Dispatcher (uncredited)
... Young Hoodlum (uncredited)
Produced By
Videos & Photos of
He Walked by Night
Videos ( 1)
Photos ( 10 )
Related Movies To
He Walked by Night
28 Years Later (2025)
0 /10
Twenty-eight years since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one member departs on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
Run Time: 1hr 55` . MMPA: R . Release: 18 Jun 2025
Director: Lucy Hatherley , Danny Boyle , Emily Perowne
Producer: Alex Garland , Bernard Bellew , Danny Boyle
Stars: Cillian Murphy , Jodie Comer , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Charlie Hunnam , Jack O'Connell , Ralph Fiennes
Life After Fighting (2024)
0 /10
Retired martial arts world champion Alex Faulkner has settled into a simple life, when the disappearance of two of his students leads to an unthinkable discovery close to home. Just when all hope of finding the children is lost, he locates the imprisoned girls and unsurfaces an international child trafficking operation, which draws him back into the fight of his life against those behind it.
Run Time: 2hr 6` . MMPA: . Release: 07 Jun 2024
Director: Bren Foster
Producer: Chelsea Jean Foster , Bren Foster , Navid Bahadori
Stars: Bren Foster , Cassie Howarth , Luke Ford , Annabelle Stephenson , Anthony Nassif , Arielle Jean Foster
STRAW (2025)
0 /10
What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point — and into a shocking act of desperation.
Run Time: 1hr 45` . MMPA: R . Release: 05 Jun 2025
Director: Roger Berard , Tyler Perry , Diann Malcolm
Producer: Angi Bones , Kim Taylor-Coleman , Carole Wurst
Stars: Taraji P. Henson , Sherri Shepherd , Teyana Taylor , Sinbad , Rockmond Dunbar , Ashley Versher
The Amateur (2025)
0 /10
After his life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder takes matters into his own hands when his supervisors refuse to take action.
Run Time: 2hr 3` . MMPA: PG-13 . Release: 09 Apr 2025
Director: James Hawes , Svetlana Punte
Producer: Dan Wilson , Rami Malek , Martin Ware
Stars: Rami Malek , Rachel Brosnahan , Caitríona Balfe , Laurence Fishburne , Jon Bernthal , Holt McCallany
Diablo (2025)
0 /10
Ex-con Kris Chaney seizes the daughter of a Colombian gangster to fulfill a noble promise to the young girl's mother. When her father enlists both the criminal underworld and a psychotic killer to exact his revenge, Kris relies on everything he's ever learned to stay alive and keep his word.
Run Time: 1hr 31` . MMPA: R . Release: 13 Jun 2025
Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Producer: Francisco Carrillo , Scott Adkins , Pierre-Andre Rochat
Stars: Scott Adkins , Marko Zaror , María del Rosario , Lucho Velasco , Diana Hoyos , Alanna de la Rosa
Crypto Legacy (2020)
2.5 /10
Troy Morgan doesn't like his family's farm. The place creeps him out. After spotting some strange lights one evening, Troy and his little sister Carrie go to investigate the creepy barn.
Run Time: 1hr 11` . MMPA: . Release: 01 Oct 2020
Director: Charles Townsend
Producer: Charles Townsend
Stars: Sheri Gill Dixon , Brian Kunz , Brandon Young , Nathaniel Barton , Linzi Gray , Thalia Reynolds
Utopia (2024)
0 /10
A soldier searching for his missing wife breaks into a high-tech facility, believing she's been caught in a human trafficking ring. But beyond its walls, he finds a surreal, futuristic fantasy park where reality and illusion blur. As he navigates this seductive and dangerous world, a shocking truth pulls him deeper into a deadly game where nothing is as it seems.
Run Time: 1hr 33` . MMPA: R . Release: 09 Dec 2024
Director: James Bamford
Producer: Scott Karol , Danail Hadzhiyski , Steven Paul
Stars: Moe Dunford , Charlotte Vega , Michael D. Xavier , Daniel Bernhardt , Jason Flemyng , Wanda Banda
Remnant (2024)
0 /10
Grace is a young woman whose life has been turned upside down by tragedy. When she returns home to the family farm to rebuild her shattered life, her world begins to unravel as a series of strange events haunt her, pushing Grace to the edge of madness. A mysterious figure lurks in the shadows and a ghostly woman appears in the darkness of night. Is Grace imagining these apparitions, or are they a warning of a nightmare still to come?
Run Time: 1hr 52` . MMPA: . Release: 30 Jun 2024
Director: Mike Horan
Producer:
Stars: Nicole Pritchard , Shaun Robert Foley , Tsu Shan Chambers , Remi Webster , Megan Bell , Martin Ashley Jones
Sinners (2025)
0 /10
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Run Time: 2hr 18` . MMPA: R . Release: 16 Apr 2025
Director: Amir R. Khan , Ryan Coogler , Gio Paredes-Utforskare
Producer: Andrew Lary , Will Greenfield , Chrissy Rosman
Stars: Michael B. Jordan , Jack O'Connell , Delroy Lindo , Jayme Lawson , Wunmi Mosaku , Hailee Steinfeld
28 Days Later (2002)
7.5 /10
Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs -- and it's absolutely impossible to contain.
Run Time: 1hr 53` . MMPA: R . Release: 31 Oct 2002
Director: Eve Spence , Danny Boyle , Sara Desmond
Producer: Sara Desmond , Andrew Macdonald , Gail Stevens
Stars: Cillian Murphy , Naomie Harris , Brendan Gleeson , Megan Burns , Christopher Eccleston , Noah Huntley
The Accountant² (2025)
0 /10
When an old acquaintance is murdered, Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax, to help. In partnership with Marybeth Medina, they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.
Run Time: 2hr 13` . MMPA: R . Release: 23 Apr 2025
Director: Fernando Chien , Gavin O'Connor , Alina Gatti
Producer: Gavin O'Connor , Scott LaStaiti , Dani Bernfeld
Stars: Ben Affleck , Jon Bernthal , J.K. Simmons , Cynthia Addai-Robinson , Daniella Pineda , Alison Robertson
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
0 /10
Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Run Time: 2hr 50` . MMPA: PG-13 . Release: 17 May 2025
Director: Wade Eastwood , Christopher McQuarrie , Tommy Gormley
Producer: Susan E. Novick , Don Granger , Christopher McQuarrie
Stars: Tom Cruise , Hayley Atwell , Ving Rhames , Simon Pegg , Vanessa Kirby , Henry Czerny