The Killer Is Loose ***½ (1956, Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey) – Classic Movie Review 3,368

‘The Story of a Cop Who Used His Wife as Bait for a Killer!’ Budd Boetticher’s underrated 1956 hide-and-seek film noir crime thriller The Killer Is Loose stars Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming and Wendell Corey as a memorable short-sighted psycho.

Director Budd Boetticher’s underrated 1956 Crown Productions hide-and-seek film noir crime thriller The Killer Is Loose stars Joseph Cotten as a police lieutenant, Detective Sam Wagner, who helps in apprehending soft-spoken crooked bank employee Leon ‘Foggy’ Poole (Wendell Corey), and sending him to jail for his inside job hold-up at his bank.

During the capture at Poole’s apartment, Cotten accidentally shoots Corey’s young wife to death in a gun battle. Poole is sentenced to a decade in prison for his part in the robbery. Two years later, Poole has been transferred to the prison’s honour farm for good behaviour. But then the criminal is determined to have his revenge by breaking out of custody and killing Cotten’s wife Lila (played by Rhonda Fleming), who doesn’t know that she is Poole’s target…

Boetticher’s little B-movie is a taut, extremely competently handled minor thriller with a serviceable premise and plot developments, plus finely tuned performances from a neat film noir cast. Cotten is dependably rock solid as the doggedly honest cop, and Fleming is effective as the loving but fearful wife who wants him to quit the force, but Corey is outstanding as the unhinged, deceptively mild-mannered bank robber. Corey, sympathetic co-star in Rear Window, creates a memorable short-sighted psycho.

Michael Pate as Detective Chris Gillespie, Virginia Christine as his wife Mary Gillespie, John Larch as Poole’s former army sergeant Otto Flanders and Dee J Thompson as his wife Grace Flanders give the film’s most notable support cast performances.

Boetticher’s direction, Lucien Ballard’s carefully composed noir black and white cinematography and Lionel Newman’s ominous score are all first rate and help to make it seem better than screenplay writer Harold Medford’s material deserves (from a story by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins), though it is still plenty serviceable.

It might be just a shade talky in places, but the set pieces are tensely conceived and achieved – and surprising – and overall the suspense and tension, as well as world-weary mood and dark atmosphere, are very well handled. And it is all done in a neat and tidy 73 minutes. Quickly made in 15 days, it is extraordinarily meticulous.

Also in the cast are Alan Hale Jnr as Police Detective Denny, Michael Pate as Detective Chris Gillespie, John Larch as Otto Flanders, Dee J Thompson as Grace Flanders, John Beradino as plain-clothes cop Mac, Virginia Christine as Mary Gillespie and Paul Bryar as Greg Boyd.

Boetticher praised both Cotten and Ballard. He said ‘Joseph Cotten was a complete professional, always knew his lines’ and Ballard was ‘the best cinematographer there ever was.’

However, after making The Magnificent Matador with Ballard, ‘all the producers said “don’t let these two guys make a picture together ever again; they’re tough as hell; they don’t care about the money; they’re going to break the studio.” I discovered that there was an 18-day picture called The Killer is Loose [at Crown Productions], so Lucien and I went there and we made it in 15 days. And that put that rumour to rest.’

The Killer Is Loose is directed by Budd Boetticher, runs 73 minutes, is made by Crown Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Harold Medford, based on a story by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins, is shot by Lucien Ballard, is produced by Robert L Jacks, and scored by Lionel Newman.

It was filmed in three weeks in August 1955 on various locations in Los Angeles and in Culver City, California. It was released on 6 February 1956.

A Kiss Before Dying (1956) is another film noir from Crown Productions and released by United Artists that same year, also shot by Lucien Ballard but in colour. The producer of both films is Robert L Jacks, a Crown Productions executive and the son-in-law of 20th Century-Fox studio boss Darryl F Zanuck.

Rhonda Fleming died on 14 October 2020, aged 97.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,368

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

‘Joseph Cotten was a complete professional.’