Follow Me Quietly is directed by Richard Fleischer (with uncredited help from Anthony Mann) and adapted to screenplay by Lillie Hayward from a story written by Mann and Francis Rosenwald. It stars William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, Nestor Paiva and Paul Guilfoyle. Music is by Leonid Raab and cinematography by Robert De Grasse.A serial killer known as "The Judge" is stalking the city, his modus operandi is to strike when it rains and to kill by strangulation. The police have loads of little clues but nothing solid to go on. The strain is starting to weigh heavy on Lt. Harry Grant (Lundigan), but he comes up with a genius idea to help catch the killer - a mannequin!Not widely known, but once released to MOD home format it got more noticed and has been keenly sought out by fans of the great Anthony Mann. It has proved a little divisive so this fawning review should be taken with a little context. Clocking in at just under an hour in length, Fleischer's film is by definition a compact RKO "B" picture, but the quality of story, and the little slices of noir craft, ensure it's got plenty of strengths going for it.In essence it's an early police procedural dealing with the hunt for a serial killer. There's a babe in the mix, Dorothy Patrick as an intrepid reporter who announcers herself to the film wearing a see through mackintosh, which of course is splendid. She teams up with Grant, not as a fatale, but as a sort of wry cohort, suggestion is evident, sexual tension even, but nothing is shoe-horned in to the pic. The cops are all stoic types, splendidly attired for period delights, but it's with Lundigan's head of investigations where the film gets its pulse beat. He gets in deep with the psychological aspects of the case, thinking like the killer, talking to the faceless mannequin that has been constructed out of clues left by the killer, the mirror images of the killer and mannequin are not exactly a million miles away from Lundigan himself. Cheeky is that.Mann's stamp is all over the film, but Fleischer's work is evident for sure, an economical purist meets the crafty auteur, a fine match. Robert De Grasse (The Body Snatcher/Born to Kill) is a key component, operating with angles and shades when required, there's a distinct uneasy feel to proceedings. A few scenes grab the attention with full effect, akin to a spider inviting a fly to dinner, which all builds to a head, culminating in a blunderbuss finale at an oil refinery - cum - power plant. Only where White Heat (also 1949) went nighttime for its coup de grace, Follow Me Quietly did it in daylight. Cheeky is that.It's not perfect. Some logic holes are there as regards the water effect with the killer, which also leads us to lament a lack of reasoning and understanding with the perpetrator. There's also a couple of instances where the mannequin is played in a rear shot by a real actor, why? I have no idea. While the best scene in the film, as Lundigan chats to the dummy in a darkened room - and the rain falls hard on the windows - brings about a reveal that makes no sense what so ever. Especially once "The Judge" is revealed. However, this is easy to recommend to noir heads and fans of police procedurals, and I loved it. 8/10

Between its video release in 1990 and its DVD release at last in 2011, this film was unavailable in the English-speaking world. Knowing it to be a well-known noir of the period, I searched for it and discovered its availability only in France, from Editions Montparnasse, in their series 'Collection RKO'. There its French title is ASSASSIN SANS VISAGE (KILLER WITHOUT A FACE). The French RKO series is very good, and has many fine titles. Each disc contains both the original without subtitles and the French subtitled version, so this series is a good place to turn (through French Amazon) for old RKO movies, and one does not have to watch the French subtitles at all. Some of the French film titles are extremely amusing, such as LA FÉLINE (THE (FEMININE) FELINE) for CAT PEOPLE and PANIQUE A L'HOTEL (PANIC AT THE HOTEL) for the Marx Brothers' ROOM SERVICE. If you want Katherine Hepburn in MARY OF Scotland (1936) without having to buy a John Ford box set, then you can get it in France on its own as MARIA STUART. It is thus worth checking out all the titles in the French RKO series for 'ones that got away' in the USA. This is the third feature film directed by Dick Fleischer. His first was BODYGUARD (1948, see my review), a good noir with Lawrence Tierney. In this year, 1949, he directed no less than four films. He did a very good job of this one, and on a low B film budget made something with some snap and sparkle. There are several good one-liners in the dialogue that raise a laugh. Anthony Mann was the main screenwriter, showing his stuff as a writer in between directing. In 1947 he had directed the excellent noir, T-MEN (see my review), and in 1948 the even better, and what I like to consider the perfect, classic noir film, RAW DEAL (see my review). Anyone interested in Anthony Mann thus needs to see this as well. It stars the highly congenial William Lundigan as the police detective trying to solve a series of murders by a psychopath who calls himself 'the Judge'. It is thus a very early 'serial killer' film, though that terminology was, of course, not yet in use. The film has many fine touches. One is that the mysterious killer's appearance is known in every way except for a missing description of his face, so Lundigan orders a life-sized dummy to be made, but which has a blank face. He then shows this to people to try to stimulate their memories, and this has a useful result. But there is one incredibly eerie scene where the seated dummy, with its back turned towards him in his office, is addressed by the frustrated Lundigan, who then goes out in search of the killer. After he leaves, we see the dummy, silhouetted against the office window at night, suddenly move. It has been 'the Judge', not the dummy! He then replaces the dummy in its spot, leaves the police station unobserved, and goes out and kills another victim. There is a weird psychological twist to 'the Judge', which is that he only kills when it is raining. Heavy rain excites him and makes him want to kill. This rain-fixation comes out in an unexpected form when he is being chased through a huge chemical factory. The police fire at him and make holes in a tank, from which water or other liquids pour in several streams, simulating rain. In the chase sequence, when he encounters this, which reminds him of heavy rain, he goes berserk and become violent. 'The girl' in the film is played by an amusing Dorothy Patrick, who is 'kinda a cute kid', and makes something of the part. This is a worthy noir, and now at last available from American Amazon, so that you don't have to turn in desperation to Paris if you don't want to.

Atmospheric 60 minutes from that terrific production unit at RKO of the 1940's. Cops are after a psycho-killer who calls himself The Judge and has set out to rid the world of evil. Unusually fine support from Paul Guilfoyle as the bereaved husband and Douglas Spencer as the bogus culprit. Even bland pretty-boy Bill Lundigan is convincing in the lead as the obsessed cop, along with sarcastic sidekick, the hawk-nosed Jeff Corey. I didn't even wince at the budding romance between Lundigan and reporter Dorothy Patrick since it too is well handled. (The scene in Lundigan's apartment with Patrick is actually quite suggestive for the time.)Director Richard Fleischer gets the most out of the material with a number of nice touches. Note how he has a masher block Patrick's entry into the cafe at movie's start, or how cafe cashier Nestor Paiva is sketched in as a colorful racing tout. It's minor details like these that help distinguish a memorable B-movie from a forgettable one. And of course there's that really imaginative piece of staging with the dummy in Lundigan's office. I doubt any audience, then or now, has failed to react to that clever jolt. That scene along with other grotesqueries (the police grilling) made me think that stylish director Anthony Mann had more to do with the production than a mere co-writing credit. My one reservation is with the climax. Yes, the chase is exciting, and using the water from the punctured pipes to trigger The Judge's psychopathic fear is another imaginative touch. However, the story has built up the mystery aspect, along with the madman's bizarre beliefs. In my book, that requires the climax come at night, in the dark, with only a last minute revelation of the character's identity. Frankly, I was disappointed to see the Judge revealed in broad daylight as familiar character actor Edwin Max. To me, that aspect does not measure up to the impressive build-up nor to the inventiveness of the rest of the movie. My guess is that Mann influenced the noirish scenes, while Fleischer was the lone hand in the chase finale.Be that as it may, Fleischer and Co. show again how much style and imagination can accomplish, even on a shoestring budget.

In defense of the movie I DID have a decent time. Story was neat..Who couldn't appreciate a faceless suspected murderer..(See it to know of what I speak.) The scenes with the faceless fella were indeed eerie like the wonderful Jeff Corey also commented. My problem was 100% with Dorothy Patrick. She reminded me of Priscilla Lane, not one of my favorites, but Ms Lane could show something going on in her noggin. It seemed like perhaps William Lundigan treated her poorly or plain ignored her off camera..there wasn't an ounce of anything resembling attraction/chemistry that I could detect. Ms Patrick wasn't the sexiest gal around but she also showed nothing resembling acting ability.Anyway, besides she standing out in the rain in her raincoat and entering a bar dry was not her fault but after the ginger ale her bird-dog attempt to get to the police LT (Lundigan) for allowance for her magazine article was weak. Lundigan caved in far too quickly for his "release" or whatever it was called. The film may have done fine without the weak romantic addition. Sure Barbara Stanwyck could have pulled the Patrick role off in spades but...Do see it and it's not a lengthy film and then YOU can chop it to pieces or hail its praises!