The Sniper

The Sniper

1952. USA. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Screenplay by Harry Brown. With Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Marie Windsor, Richard Kiley. After serving time in prison as one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten and then caving to the House Un-American Activities Committee by naming names, Edward Dmytryk was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to make this low-budget noir starring Adolphe Menjou, one of the industry’s most notorious Red-baiters. Giving a fine performance as the improbably named police lieutenant Frank Kafka, Menjou joins forces with a sympathetic psychologist (Kiley) in pursuit of a sexually frustrated laundry driver (Franz) who can’t help gunning down pretty brunettes on the panicked streets of San Francisco. Politics aside, The Sniper represents a major step forward in the evolution of the serial killer archetype, building on Chinatown at Midnight and other films toward its ultimate expression in Psycho. 88 min.