Stranger on the Prowl
{{for|the Indian song|Ek Ajnabee}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Imbarco a mezzanotte
| image = Stranger on the Prowl.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Joseph Losey
| producer = Noël Calef
| screenplay = Ben Barzman
| based_on = {{based on|the story
"La bouteille du lait"|Noël Calef}}
| narrator =
| starring = Paul Muni
| music = Giulio Cesare Sonzogno
| cinematography = Henri Alekan
Antonio Fiore
| editing = Thelma Connell
| studio = Riviera Films
Tirrenia Film
| distributor = United Artists
| released = {{Film date|1952|03|12|Italy|1953|11|9|US}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country = Italy
| language = Italian
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Imbarco a mezzanotte (internationally released as Stranger on the Prowl, also known as Giacomo and Encounter) is a 1952 Italian drama film directed by Joseph Losey and featuring Paul Muni.{{IMDb title|id=0043671|title=Imbarco a mezzanotte}}.Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 157-158: FilmographyHirsch, 1980 p. 234: Filmography
The picture was the first to be made abroad by any blacklisted Hollywood director.Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 9: In 1952, Losey “directed in Italy… the first film to be made abroad by a blacklisted artist…” And: See her for repercussions of HUAC investigations and blacklists on Hollywood filmmakers. Due to the political blacklist, Losey was credited for the story and direction under the name Andrea Forzano.Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “Because of the Hollywood blacklist, Losey wrote and directed the film under the name of Andrea Forzano.”Callahan, 2003: See here for repercussions from blacklisting. “he never shot another film in the USA.”
Muni traveled to Italy to star in the film partly as an act of solidarity and support for blacklisted friends living there in exile.
Plot
A disillusioned vagrant (Paul Muni)kills a shop owner, and is joined by a rebellious youngster in his flight from apprehension.Hirsch, 1980 p. 58: Plot sketch.
Cast
- Paul Muni as The Stranger With A Gun
- Joan Lorring as Angela, a lonely woman
- Vittorio Manunta as Giacomo, a small boy
- Luisa Rossi as Giacomo's Mother
- Aldo Silvani as Peroni, the junk dealer
- Arnoldo Foà as Inspector-in-Charge
- Alfredo Varelli as The Neighborhood Patrolman
- Héléna Manson as Grocery Store Clerk
- Enrico Glori as Signor Pucci
- Linda Sini as Signora Raffetto
Retrospective appraisal
{{box quote|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote= “Stranger on the Prowl, made at the end of the neorealist revolution in Italian cinema, has the grainy texture and the naturalistic mood of the films by De Sica or Rosellini. Since it tells the story of a man and a boy, it contains echoes of De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief (1948). - Film critic Foster Hirsch in Joseph Losey (1980)Hirsch, 1980 p. 58}}
Film historian Foster Hirsch considers the Stranger on the Prowl deserving of “more attention than it has received.”Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “...the film is rarely shown…”
The film is clearly influenced by Italian neorealism and consequently is “markedly different” in its mise-en-scene from Losey’s previous Hollywood, and his subsequent British produced film, notably lacking in their claustrophobic “closed qualities.”Hirsch, 1980 p. 59-60 Hirsch writes:
{{blockquote| The film is set in the cavernous, bombed-out of a severely depleted post-war Italian slum…as in the major neo-realist films, Losey frames his action with a sense of the ongoing flow of life. The screen is almost always filled with background movement…Losey’s film “redeems” physical reality with its “open compositions.”Hirsch, 1980 p. 59: Ellipsis for brevity, clarity: meaning unaltered.}}
Hirsch reserves special mention for American film star Paul Muni, who brings pathos and genuine dignity to the impoverished outcast and fugitive he portrays.Hirsch, 1980 p. 60
Footnotes
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Sources
- Callahan, Dan. 2003. Losey, Joseph. Senses of Cinema, March 2003. Great Directors Issue 25.https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/losey/#:~:text=The%20dominant%20themes%20of%20Losey's,love%20story%20in%20his%20films. Accessed 12 October, 2024.
- Hirsch, Foster. 1980. Joseph Losey. Twayne Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts. {{ISBN | 0-8057-9257-0}}
- Palmer, James and Riley, Michael. 1993. The Films of Joseph Losey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England. {{ISBN |0-521-38386-2}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0043671|title=Imbarco a mezzanotte}}
{{Joseph Losey}}
Category:1950s Italian-language films
Category:Films directed by Joseph Losey
Category:Italian black-and-white films
Category:Italian-language drama films
{{1950s-Italy-film-stub}}