Follow Me Quietly

Infobox Film
name = Follow Me Quietly


caption = Theatrical poster
director = Richard Fleischer Anthony Mann
producer = Herman Schlom
writer = Screenplay: Lillie Hayward Story: Anthony Mann Francis Rosenwald
starring = William Lundigan
Dorothy Patrick
Jeff Corey
music = Leonid Raab Paul Sawtell
cinematography = Robert De Grasse
editing = Elmo Williams
distributor = RKO Radio Pictures
released = July 7, 1949 (U.S.A.)
runtime = 60 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:18032
imdb_id = 0041378|

"Follow Me Quietly" (1949) is a semidocumentary film noir directed by Richard Fleischer, with support from Anthony Mann in an uncredited position. The drama features William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, and others. [imdb title|id=0041378|title=Follow Me Quietly.]

Plot

A mysterious killer, known only as "The Judge," kills anyone he considers worthless.

Detective Harry Grant (Lundigan) is assigned to track him down. With just a handful of clues, Grant constructs a faceless dummy to help his men conduct their investigation.

Police finally break the case after receiving an important clue. Finally, after cornering the killing during a chase on the catwalks of a refinery, the killer is revealed to be a middle-aged man whose cruel disposition and unattractive appearance lead him to become "The Judge."

Cast

* William Lundigan as Police Lt. Harry Grant
* Dorothy Patrick as Ann Gorman
* Jeff Corey as Police Sgt. Art Collins
* Nestor Paiva as Benny
* Charles D. Brown as Police Insp. Mulvaney
* Paul Guilfoyle as Overbeck
* Edwin Max as Charlie Roy aka The Judge
* Frank Ferguson as J.C. McGill
* Marlo Dwyer as Waitress
* Archie Twitchell as Dixon
* Douglas Spencer as Phony Judge

Critical reception

"The New York Times" was dismissive of the film and wrote, "There is no intelligent reason why anyone should heed the proposal of "Follow Me Quietly"... [f] or this utterly senseless little thriller is patently nothing more than a convenient one-hour time-killer between performances of the eight-act vaudeville bill. In it, William Lundigan, playing a blue-print detective role, takes forever, it seems, to uncover a mystery murderer labeled "The Judge." When he finally does encounter this conspicuously unattractive gent, he chases him into a refinery and destroys him. That's the end of "Judge" and film." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802E4DA123FE33BBC4053DFB1668382659EDE "The New York Times"] . Film review, July 8, 1949. Last accessed: February 7, 2008.]

Critic Dennis Schwartz wrote of the film, "Follow Me Quietly" is patterned after "He Walked By Night". In this obsessive film noir, one oddly enough without a femme fatale, the police are the good-guys who take the viewer on a tour of a dark and cynical underworld that opened up in the postwar period. Fleischer leads us into this perverse noir world, but it only dallies with its noir atmosphere and instead turns into a straight mystery story--effectively filmed in a semi-documentary style that emphasizes police procedures over character studies or creating suspense over suspects." [ [http://www.sover.net/~ozus/followmequietly.htm Schwartz, Dennis] . "Ozus' World Movie Reviews," review, November 9, 2004. Last accessed: February 6, 2008]

References

External links

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* [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/follow_me-quietly.htm "Follow Me Quietly"] at DVD Beaver (includes images)