The Prowler

I can honestly say that I've never seen a movie quite like this before. Is it film noir? Is it melodrama? Is it a character study of a deranged man? Is it an anti-police picture? All of the above?

The first half plays like a standard film noir plot (young tart married to old fart takes up with a younger man and the old fart bites it) but then the second half goes haywire.

There's a ghost town, there's campy relatives, receptionists with funny accents, a tricky home birth, and a doomed scramble up a pile of salt. What else could you possibly want in a movie?

This movie isn't on DVD and hadn't been shown in a 35mm print in 30 years. Good stuff.

And more importantly, this was only my second visit to Film Forum since the arrival of Double Trouble. The first showing was for a movie that wasn't popcorn material. This movie was made to be viewed while eating some popcorn. Film Forum easily has the best popcorn of any movie theater I've ever been to. I bought a large so I could bring home half of the bag to SHR. She was grateful.

Directed by Joseph Losey
1951
Film Forum