Follow Me Quietly (1949)
Directed by Richard Fleischer

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.

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...