Chatverock Takes itself way too seriously

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

tomgillespie2002 The infamous Hollywood blacklist, which saw writers, actors and directors alike accused of harbouring Communist sympathies and forced others to name names or else face exile from the business altogether, may have been one of the darkest times the industry has ever faced. Yet, it also inspired great anger in the movies, and writers and directors channelled this frustration into some of the best movies of the era, taking the opportunity to delve into and pick apart the underbelly of the so-called perfect American society. Director Joseph Losey and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo - the latter already on the blacklist and working under a pseudonym - combined to create one of the darkest and most fascinating film noirs ever to come out of Hollywood with the inexplicably obscure The Prowler.After seeing a strange man lurking in the backyard of her hacienda, Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes), the wife of a radio personality, calls the cops and is greeted by partners Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) and Bud Crocker (John Maxwell). It's a routine visit, but Webb falls for the striking Susan, and is soon back to pay her a follow-up call in the hope of seducing her while her husband is at work. The two start a passionate and dangerous affair, but Webb becomes frustrated as Susan cannot bring herself to leave her husband. Retreating to his squalid, cramped apartment, Webb ignores Susan's calls while hatching a 'perfect crime' - to become a prowler himself and take out the man standing in his way of happiness in the process. But there's no such thing as a perfect crime in the world of noir, and the couple are soon under suspicion and on the run.One of the key aspects to the film noir genre is the idea of the femme fatale - the beautiful blonde or brunette who, frustrated and bored with their current situation, start to manipulate events with devastating results, and usually duping some poor love-struck sap in the process. The Prowler is in many ways incredibly similar to Billy Wilder's masterwork Double Indemnity, but with the gender roles reversed. Here, it is Van Heflin's Webb Garwood who is the schemer, and he does so with such arrogant relish that I found myself almost willing him on. The cogs start turning the moments he lays eyes on Susan, and they turn ever faster when he takes a peek at her husband's generous will. He is a truly hideous, wretched creation, played with incredible naturalism by Heflin. The devious intentions glisten in his eyes from the moment he turns up at Susan's house for the first time alone.Trumbo, who produced some of his greatest work while on the blacklist (and winning two Oscars), clearly enjoyed dissecting a trusted American institution and showing its ugly side. It's shocking to see Webb, a police officer often in uniform, act with such malicious intent in a time when America was still promoting the idea of the 'American Dream'. Webb knows what his dream is and goes about taking it with all his might, mirroring the proud capitalist ideals of his country. It's incredibly subversive stuff for the genre, and is even bold enough to let Susan, an adulterer carrying a child conceived out of wedlock, off relatively easy for her sins. It's a miracle it got past the Hays Code, and its somewhat taboo subject matter and the matter-of-fact way in which it goes about its business is probably why it isn't better known. Yet this deserves to find a new audience, as on top of being one of the most intriguing film noirs out there, it's also significant both historically and culturally.

RanchoTuVu Webb Garwood (Van Heflin), a dissatisfied LA police patrol officer, answers a call about a prowler with his partner, "Bud" Crocker (John Maxwell), a desert enthusiast who explores abandoned mining towns along the desert drive from LA to Las Vegas. Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes) had been in the bathroom of her upscale home when she spotted a prowler peaking through the window. Heflin's Garwood sizes her up and returns later to put the make on her. She's married to local radio personality who's at least twice her age, and it doesn't take long for her to fall for Heflin. It's a hard decision to make between who's better, Heflin or Keyes. Heflin had the capacity to play the cowardly types up against the macho man's world of the postwar better than any actor ever. And Keyes excels in each scene along her route of discovery of Heflin's true nature. The entire affair between him and Susan is extremely sordid for 1951, but the director, Joseph Losey and the studio, Eagle, were camped far out on film noir's fringe.

Claudio Carvalho In California, the gorgeous housewife Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes) glances at a prowler outside her house in a wasteland and she calls the police. Officer Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) and his partner attend the call and do not find anyone. Later Webb returns to her house with the pretext of checking if everything is OK with Susan and she invites him to drink a coffee with her. Soon he learns that Susan is married with John Gilvray (Sherry Hall), a middle age broadcaster of a late night radio show. Further, they discover that they are from the same homeland. Webb hits on Susan and soon they have a love affair. But when John suspects of Susan, their relationship comes to an end. Webb plots a scheme to get rid off John and he kills John simulating an accident. Webb goes on trial and is considered not-guilty for the murder of John. Webb quits the police and manipulates John's brother to get close to Susan again. He learns that John could not have children and their marriage was not perfect. Webb meets Susan and convinces her that he is really innocent. Soon they get married and they buy a motel to start a new life. But in the wedding night, Susan discloses that she is four months pregnant. How could they explain the baby to the press after the publicity around the case?"The Prowler" is a great but unknown Film-Noir directed by Joseph Losey with a story of adultery and greed. Webb Garwood is a sordid frustrated man that manipulates the housewife Susan Gilvray, who has a loveless marriage without children with an older man, to marry him. The conclusion is moralist but does not spoil the story. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Cúmplice das Sombras" ("Accomplice of the Shadows")

evening1 Van Hefflin stirs paranoia as an odd, bored cop who takes a liking to a neglected wife on his beat and ends up bedding her, killing her husband, and marrying her, then whisking her off to a ghost town where she can have their baby in secret.Evelyn Keyes is also good as the at-first hard-to-get, then desperately clingy unfaithful woman. This naive, repressed woman paints herself into an unenviable corner by lying for her lover on the stand then pleading for their baby's life when she realizes the child's due date will reveal their affair.I actually felt for this neurotic, amoral couple as they played house in their dusty hideaway. A sense of foreboding grew as one thought about Heflin's character being responsible for delivering a baby amid coyote howls and drifting tumbleweed. This film conjures Zola's "Therese Raquin" as the lovers turn on each other. In all, a surprisingly good, and creepy, thriller.---------------------------------------------------------------- "So I'm no good...I'm no worse than anyone else!"-------------------------