Name: The Sniper
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 1952-05-09
Duration: 1 h 27 min

The Sniper (1952)

Directed by Edward Dmytryk

AllMovie Rating
6
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

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.

Characteristics

Moods

Nail-biters

Themes

Serial Killers

Keywords

anger, arrest, burn, capture, compulsion, craziness, criminal, disturbance, doctor/nurse, hospital, killing, killing-spree, loner, media, misogyny, murder, psychiatry, psychology, serial-killer, sniper, tension, turmoil, weapons, woman, artist, casting, director, emotion, employment, police, time