He Walked by Night is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann.[1] The film, shot in semidocumentary tone, was loosely based on newspaper accounts of the real-life actions of Erwin “Machine-Gun” Walker, a former Glendale, California, police department employee and World War II veteran who unleashed a crime spree of burglaries, robberies, and shootouts in the Los Angeles area during 1945 and 1946.[2][3]
During production, one of the actors, Jack Webb, struck up a friendship with the police technical advisor, Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn, and was inspired by a conversation with Wynn to create the radio and later television program Dragnet.[4]
He Walked by Night was released by Eagle-Lion Films and is notable for the camera work by renowned noir cinematographer John Alton.[5] Today the film is in the public domain. Wiki
