The Prowler

Saturday, May 26, 2012 | 8:50 pm
The Sun Sets in the West: Mid-Century California Noir
1951/b&w/92 min.
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Scr: Hugo Butler, Dalton Trumbo; dir: Joseph Losey; w/ Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes, John Maxwell; cinematography: Arthur Miller. | Restored 35mm print; preservation funded by The Film Noir Foundation.

A tawdry tale of obsession and murder, Joseph Losey’s The Prowler tells the story of a crooked LAPD rookie who decides to win over the lonely housewife he’s been stalking by knocking off her husband. Made shortly before his remake of M, The Prowler was Losey’s favorite of his five Hollywood features. Written by the already blacklisted Dalton Trumbo and the eventually blacklisted Hugo Butler, this intensely paranoid tailspin of a romance skewers middle-class decorum en route to its fateful climax in a Nevada ghost town. Featuring assistant direction by Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly) and resourceful art direction by Boris Leven (West Side Story, Criss Cross, The King of Comedy), The Prowler is a haunting portrait of the American dream, wrapped in a tabloid melodrama. A favorite of James Ellroy, The Prowler has been beautifully restored in 35mm by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

“The Prowler maybe the creepiest of classic noirs . . . it has definite Cold War resonance.”—J. Hoberman

Bing Theater | Included with admittance to Nightfall; $5 for this film only | Tickets 323 857-6010 or purchase online.