The Sniper (1952)

Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen ... see more  , Richard Kiley , Mabel Paige , Marlo Dwyer , Geraldine Carr , Jay Novello , Ralph Peters , Max Palmer , Sidney Miller , Hugh Latimer , Dani Sue Nolan , Harry V. Cheshire , Cliff Clark , Jessie Arnold , Lillian Bond , Barry Brooks , John K. Butler , George Cheseboro , Kernan Cripps , Steven Darrell , Dudley Dickerson , Paul Dubov , John Eldredge , Byron Foulger , Robert Foulk , Harry Harvey , Al Hill , Clark Howat , J. Anthony Hughes , Donald Kerr , Frank Kreig , Nolan Leary , Robert Malcolm Young , Rory Mallinson , Adrienne Marden , Paul Marion , David McMahon , Don Michaelian , Danny Mummert , Kathleen O'Malley , Gaylord "Steve" Pendleton , John M. Pickard , Robin Raymond , Carl Benton Reid , Grandon Rhodes , Sarah Selby , Victor Sen Yung , Ralph Smiley , Frank Sully , Ralph Volkie , Harlan Warde , Charles Watts , Billy Wayne , Jean Willes , John Brown , Robert Day , Charles Lane , Howard Negley , Joseph Miksak , Gail Bonney , Bruce Cameron , George Dockstader , Michael Lally , Joe Palma , Leslie Sketchley , Marlene Lyden , Frank Shaw

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 exp... read more ediency, 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, Rovi