Film Review
With two fairly respectable film noir thrillers under his belt (
Bodyguard and
The Clay Pigeon), Richard Fleischer
was well-placed to direct
Follow Me
Quietly, a taut investigative thriller of the manhunt variety
which prefigures his subsequent film
The
Boston Strangler (1968). Despite working on a ludicrously
tight budget (the film was made at a time when RKO was struggling to
survive after incurring spectacular losses under Howard Hughes's
stewardship), Fleischer constructs a remarkably slick thriller that
combines the familiar noir stylistic touches (slanted camera angles,
high contrast lighting, etc) with a modern, near-documentary approach.
The film's one weak point is a plot that is too formulaic and
predictable to sustain even its modest one hour runtime, and lacklustre
performances from William Lundigan and Dorothy Patrick do little to
help matters. Fleischer evidently wasn't phased by the flaws in
his script and somehow manages to turn a plodding criminal
investigation into a compelling and unwaveringly atmospheric suspense
thriller with a spectacular climax. In the hands of a lesser
B-movie director, the plot device of the dummy would have been as
ludicrous on screen as it assuredly was on paper, but by exercising his
creative ingenuity Fleischer uses this to give the film its most
chilling moments. The faceless dummy literally takes on a life of
its own, so that when the real killer is revealed to us we see them as
one in the same entity.
Follow
Me Quietly may be a modest entry in Richard Fleischer's
remarkable filmography, but it is one that definitely should not be
overlooked.
© James Travers 2013
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Next Richard Fleischer film:
Trapped (1949)
Film Synopsis
Police lieutenant Harry Grant is on the trail of a serial killer who
sees himself as an avenging angel, strangling people he considers are
immoral and depraved. Despite the abundance of clues the police
have so far amassed, the identity of the murderer, who labels himself
The Judge, remains a complete mystery. In a flash of inspiration,
Grant uses the known facts to construct a life-size dummy of the
killer, hoping this will trigger an identification from anyone who
might have seen him. Despite being pestered by a reporter who
desperately needs a story, Grant feels he is at last getting close to
unmasking the killer. Sure enough, he soon gets the break he has
been waiting for, but his opponent proves to be more wily and dangerous
than he had imagined...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.