Le Rôdeur

As the story unfolds we see the true personalities of the main charcters come clearly through the film screen. There is the beautiful wife Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes) who married a successful but older radio host who provides for his wife Susan but keeps her more as another prized possession under lock and key, than as his loving wife. When a prowler is spotted outside Susan's window she calls the police and two (2) policeman show up one of whom is a rugged looking unmarried and very single policeman named Webb Garwood (Van Heflin).

Officer Webb Garwood is immediately attracted to the pretty and helpless Susan, who spends her evenings alone listening on the radio to her older husbands well known radio broadcasts. So Webb makes some more than frequent late evening and impromptu visits to check up on the pretty Susan who falls prey to Webb's flattery and promises of a better life if she agrees to leave her wealthy husband for a beat cops salary.

The story unfolds slowly with lust and unfulfilled dreams becoming the films main focus with the third wheel becoming Susan's absent husband so Webb decides he has to make a plan to free Susan so that the two of them can have an open relationship.

As with any good plan there are flaws with Webb's own plan and we realize that the noose is closing in on these two adulterous lovers. Greed, lust and looking for a short cut to happiness can only end up in a bad result and this film is a good example of a film noir that works quite well and will hold your attention throughout.

I give it a solid 8 out of 10 rating.

Van Heflin stars as a cop who is called to a woman's house to investigate a prowler outside of her window. He falls for the married woman and becomes a regular visitor at night while her husband is working as a DJ on the radio. After a few twists and turns, the two become entangled in a sordid affair. It all leads to some real nastiness and intrigue. I will not giveaway the story but it is a pretty good one. The ending was a bit disappointing but the cast is good.

Van Heflin is "The Prowler" in this 1951 noir directed by Joseph Losey and also starring Evelyn Keyes. Heflin plays a bitter cop named Webb who meets the lonely Susan (Keyes), whose husband works at night on the radio, when he investigates a prowler at her house. He returns, ostensibly to check up on her, and they discover they're from the same part of the country. Soon, they're involved in a love affair that has serious implications.

Losey was a hit or miss director. He was blacklisted and made several films starring Dirk Bogarde in Europe, including the amazing The Servant and a big miss, Modesty Blaise. Here he's on the money with a suspenseful, well done film. Van Heflin is brilliant as Webb, who finally sees a chance at making his dreams come true, and Keyes is wonderful as Susan, disappointed in her marriage.

"The Prowler" was restored by UCLA, and for some reason, when Christopher-Jan Horrocks discussed it on TCM, he described the story incorrectly.

Frankly, I thought this film had a couple of plot problems, but I can't go into them without giving the film away. The event that the plot hinges on is certainly a daring one for those days. I'll just say that the two main characters would have had to have been Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for a total stranger to have realized what he realized immediately.

Well worth checking out.

A seedy but interesting minor early film noir from soon-to-be-blacklisted Hollywood director Joseph Losey who went onto make his name in the U.K. with films like "The Servant" and "Accident".

Although the action kicks off with an apparent prowler at the window of Evelyn Keyes Susan Gilvray character, the peeping tom is never seen or heard of again. Two cops come to do a routine check up on the incident and it's probably no accident that almost the first time we see Van Heflin's Webb Garwood character he takes up the exact position where the voyeur would have stood. Young and cocky, he decides to try his chances with the young home-alone woman even though she's made it quite clear she's married and so he pays her a return visit, this time on his own at the end of his shift ostensibly to see she's still alright but in reality he's on the make.

Initially she tries to give him the brush off even as we hear the voice of her obviously older absent husband in the background in his job as a cosy, late-night radio dee-jay who pointedly signs off every broadcast with a loving message directed personally at her, but Heflin's persistence pays off and soon enough they're off and running in an affair which you just know will never end well.

A key piece of exposition passed on to the viewer from a third party is that Susan and her husband could never have the children she wanted due to infertility on his part but regardless of this it's obvious that Garwood wants her to himself and so sets up a convenient night-time shooting of the docile-looking spouse in our only sighting of him in the whole movie. Garwood contrives a fabricated defence and gets off with an accidental death verdict that acquits him of blame which initially offends Susan but before long he's schmoozed his way back into her affections helped by a hefty life insurance pay-out on the dead man's name and soon enough they marry. But not soon enough, as Susan becomes aware she is already several months pregnant, he can't handle the scandal and whisks her away to an eerie, storm-buffeted ghost town to have the baby away from prying eyes. The conclusion shows Heflin's character to be the selfish heel he undoubtedly is and karma duly comes his way.

I was interested in the blunt way that the couple's brazen affair was presented and in particular the clear inference about the physicality of their relationship making the widow pregnant which I thought was quite daring for the time. Heflin is very good as the cake-and-eat-it guy who should have left well alone and Keyes is also very good as the conflicted wife lured in by Heflin's youthful passion and likely prospect of motherhood.

Like I said, it's a grubby, everyday story with none of the main characters coming out of it well, but sometimes life is like that and this effective little feature deserves kudos for that, at the very least.

Have seen a pattern in my recent classic film viewings. That being that many of them have been very good, if not quite outstanding, and interesting, with a lot of critical praise given to them but also not very well known today. Another pattern is high expectations, due to loving the genres and talented casts and crews. 'The Prowler' is another one of those films that had a promising premise and have liked Van Heflin in other things, his role here also sounded really intriguing.

'The Prowler' is mostly good with many truly great things, if not quite classic status. It does start out that way but it should have kept that all the way through. While it is understandable as to why it won't connect to some, the praise it has gotten here is every bit, perhaps even more, as understandable. While not loving 'The Prowler' and feeling that there are definitely better films in the genre, it is underseen and impresses in many ways.

It is very beautifully and atmospherically shot and tightly edited, although the sets are on the sparse side. While it is not exactly lavish or expensive-looking, 'The Prowler' also doesn't look cheap. The music looms ominously without being intrusive. Joseph Losey, have appreciated his output ever since his wonderful 'Don Giovanni', directs with a sure and stylish hand, that indicates somebody who knew what he was doing. The script on the most part is taut and intelligent, and it was amazing too at how daring and subversive it was for back then.

Did find the story engrossing on the whole, especially in the first half which is full of intrigue and suspenseful atmosphere. Especially the ending. The character writing fascinates, really liked its nuance and that it was not all black and white. Heflin is outstanding here, it's one of his best performances and he was seldom this nuanced and haunting. Evelyn Keyes doesn't look ill at ease, even with her suitably vulnerable body language and underplays beautifully yet also with the appropriate amount of steely edge. John Maxwell is rock solid support.

By all means, 'The Prowler' could have been better than it was. While Heflin and Keyes are spot on individually, the central chemistry felt on the bland and underdeveloped side. The ending aside, too much of the second half isn't quite as focused as the first, it loses tautness and parts do veer on implausible.

Also found myself frustrated by some of Keyes' character's behaviour and decisions, where they didn't make sense or seem silly.

Concluding, not a classic but recommended despite its unevenness. 7/10.