Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Police Detective Film
Themes: Serial Killers
Main Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen
Release Year: 1952
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the HUAC hearings. Shorn of his trademarked mustache, and with his famous expensive wardrobe replaced by a humdrum business suit, Menjou turns in one of his best performances as a world-weary San Francisco detective assigned to track down a mad sniper. From the beginning, the audience knows that the criminal is psycho Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), who is possessed of the notion that he must kill every beautiful brunette woman who crosses his path. Some audience sympathy is elicited by Miller's pathetic attempts to rid himself of his obsession, but this never gets in the way of the film's suspense. The excellent supporting cast includes Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist, Marie Windsor as Miller's first victim, and Mabel Paige as the sniper's snoopy landlady. An unbilled Wally Cox shows up briefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Walter Holscher - Art Director, Edward Dmytryk - Director, Harry Gerstad - Editor, Aaron Stell - Editor, George Antheil - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Rudolph Sternad - Production Designer, Burnett Guffey - Cinematographer, Stanley Kramer - Producer, James Crowe - Set Designer, Edward Anhalt - Screenwriter, Harry Brown - Screenwriter, Edna Anhalt - Screenwriter
