Part of the enduring power of film noir is its ability to capture the anger and darkness that bubbled under the surface of postwar America. Under all the triumphalism of the 40's and the forced sense of normalcy in the 50's, there lay a deep-seated sense of resentment that often reared its head from the shadows and permanent night of some of these noir pictures. There is perhaps no better example than eclectic director Joseph Losey's "The Prowler".
The movie opens in true pulp fashion from the POV of a peeping tom as he spies on a beautiful woman in her Los Angeles mansion (Evelyn Keyes). The police arrive in the form of the indomitable Van Heflin and his partner. There's no real threat; we never hear from our titular prowler again. However, in a coincidence to end all coincidences, Heflin and Keyes are from the same Midwest town. The rest of the movie is too good to spoil here, but it's safe to say that complications ensue, ending on an almost dystopian note that will send ripples of doubt throught the souls of even the most steadfastly optimistic.
The soul-crushing facade of assembly-made conformity helped spawn a generation of rebels: the sons and daughters of the WWII generation included makers of wildly subversive movies like "Easy Rider" and "Apocalypse Now". But before the American New Wave, there was "The Prowler", which zeroed in on a pair of All-Americans and atomized the whole charade, stopping afterwards to dynamite the tiny shreds of decency that remained. It's great stuff, Heflin is far more effective as the sinister, cynical creature here than the straight man roles he's largely known for. Not for the faint of heart, this picture still conveys its themes of intimate terror and perversion remarkably potently, resulting in one of the best lesser-known films noir.
Note: "The Prowler" can be found in its entirety on Youtube.
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