Follow Me Quietly ** (1949, William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey) – Classic Movie Review 11,203

Director Richard Fleischer’s 1949 American police procedural film noir Follow Me Quietly stars William Lundigan as an obsessive police detective who trails an elusive serial killer strangler called The Judge.

‘Police baffled by the FACELESS KILLER!’

Directors Richard Fleischer and Anthony Mann’s 1949 black and white film noir crime thriller Follow Me Quietly stars William Lundigan as an obsessed police detective, Lieutenant Harry Grant, who trails an elusive serial killer strangler called The Judge (eventually revealed as Charlie Roy, played by Edwin Max) at work strangling his victims on rainy nights, and, from the clues he uncovers, bizarrely builds a faceless dummy resembling the killer, which he places on a seat in his office.

Despite Lundigan’s sterling star turn, this is a rather slow, clunky, creaky and unconvincing little support thriller, directed with a surprising lack of tension by Fleischer, whose regular cup of tea this brand was. But, with its rainy noir shots (by Robert De Grasse), good performances, the unsettling serial killer story, the clue-following police procedural, the eerily weird dummy idea, and a satisfactory chase ending on the catwalks of a refinery, it ends up in the interesting and watchable category, though. It is mostly studio bound, but that is used pretty well within its confines, though its few moves outside bring better, greater atmosphere.

Dorothy Patrick perhaps doesn’t make enough headway as Ann Gorman, an annoyingly persistent young female reporter for a tabloid magazine, who is dogging Grant for a story on the killings. Lundigan and Patrick don’t have enough chemistry, or perhaps not well enough written scenes and lines, to make their part of the story work really well. But bright spots come from Jeff Corey as Police Sgt Art Collins (Lundigan’s sparky sidekick), Nestor Paiva as Benny, Charles D Brown as Police Inspector Mulvaney, Paul Guilfoyle as Overbeck and Frank Ferguson as the editor victim J C McGill, all of them good value.

The story is co-written with Francis Rosenwald by Anthony Mann, who also co-directed, uncredited. The screenplay is by Lillie Hayward. It is on the right lines but it needs more polish and beefing up. A better, more appropriate title would help too,

The cast are William Lundigan as Police Lieutenant Harry Grant, Dorothy Patrick as Ann Gorman, Jeff Corey as Police Sgt Art Collins , Nestor Paiva as Benny, Charles D Brown as Police Inspector Mulvaney, Paul Guilfoyle as Overbeck, Frank Ferguson as J C McGill, Edwin Max as Charlie Roy aka The Judge, Marlo Dwyer as Waitress, Archie Twitchell as Dixon, Douglas Spencer as Phony Judge, Lee Phelps, Virginia Farmer, Art Dupuis, Maurice Cass, Robert Emmett Keane, Paul Bryar, Walden Boyle, Wanda Cantlon, Martin Cichy, Nolan Leary, Michael Mark, Frank McCarroll, Howard M Mitchell, Frank O’Connor, Cy Stevens and Joe Whitehead.

It is shot at RKO Studios, 780 N Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Runtime: 60 minutes.

Release dates: July 7, 1949 (New York City) and July 14, 1949 (US).

Follow Me Quietly is directed by Richard Fleischer, runs 60 minutes, is made and released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Lillie Hayward, based on a story by Anthony Mann and Francis Rosenwald, is shot by Robert De Grasse, is produced by Herman Schlom, and is scored by Leonid Raab and Paul Sawtell.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,203

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com