Follow Me Quietly

Follow Me Quietly (1949)

Genres - Drama, Mystery, Crime  |   Sub-Genres - Film Noir, Police Detective Film, Psychological Thriller  |   Release Date - Jul 7, 1949 (USA - Unknown), Jul 7, 1949 (USA - Limited)  |   Run Time - 60 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Review by Bruce Eder

One of the neatest thrillers to come out of RKO in the late '40s, Richard Fleischer's 59-minute Follow Me Quietly was the kind of box office success that made a rare bright spot on the studio's ledger books, at a time when they were losing money by the bushel on productions such as Mourning Becomes Electra and Androcles and the Lion. Fleischer, working with a generally excellent cast and a nice, twist-laden script, keeps things moving so fast, and with such a veneer of eeriness about it, that not only does Follow Me Quietly overcome some moments of wildly illogical action, but positively revels in that action. This is nowhere truer than the bizarre scene near the mid-point in the picture when the obsessive murderer substitutes himself for the faceless dummy in the office of Lt. Grant, the lead investigator; Fleischer has maintained such an odd, off-angle tone and look to the movie up to this point, that the audience simply accepts the scene. Only the romantic subplot involving Grant (William Lundigan) and reporter Ann Gorman (Dorothy Patrick) seems predictable in these surroundings, and it is more than made up for by the overall odd, obsessive tone of the movie, and a pay-off finale at the Los Angeles refinery that manages to echo White Heat and The Naked City while giving the suspense component a twist all its own.