Stranger on the Prowl

{{Short description|1952 Italian drama film}} {{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<br/>"La bouteille du lait"|Noël Calef}} | narrator = | starring = [[Paul Muni]] | music = Giulio Cesare Sonzogno | cinematography = Henri Alekan<br/>Antonio Fiore | editing = [[Thelma Connell]] | studio = Riviera Films<br/>[[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]].<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0043671|title=Imbarco a mezzanotte}}.</ref><ref>Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 157-158: Filmography</ref><ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 234: Filmography</ref>

The picture was the first to be made abroad by any [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] Hollywood director.<ref>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.</ref> Due to the political blacklist, Losey was credited for the story and direction under the name Andrea Forzano.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “Because of the Hollywood blacklist, Losey wrote and directed the film under the name of Andrea Forzano.”</ref><ref>Callahan, 2003: See here for repercussions from blacklisting. “he never shot another film in the USA.”</ref>

Muni traveled to Italy to star in the film partly as an act of solidarity and support for [[Hollywood blacklist|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.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 58: Plot sketch.</ref>

==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 [[Italian neorealism| neorealist revolution]] in Italian cinema, has the grainy texture and the naturalistic mood of the films by [[Vittorio De Sica | De Sica]] or [[Roberto Rossellini | Rosellini]]. Since it tells the story of a man and a boy, it contains echoes of De Sica’s ''[[Bicycle Thieves|The Bicycle Thief]]'' (1948). - Film critic [[Foster Hirsch]] in ''Joseph Losey'' (1980)<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 58</ref>}}

Film historian [[Foster Hirsch]] considers the ''Stranger on the Prowl'' deserving of “more attention than it has received.”<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “...the film is rarely shown…”</ref>

The film is clearly influenced by [[Italian neorealism]] and consequently is “markedly different” in its [[Mise-en-scène |mise-en-scene]] from Losey’s previous Hollywood, and his subsequent British produced films, notably lacking in their claustrophobic “closed qualities.”<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 59-60</ref> Hirsch writes:

{{blockquote| The film is set in the cavernous, bombed-out [word missing] of a severely depleted [[Post war |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.”<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 59: Ellipsis for brevity, clarity: meaning unaltered.</ref>}}

Hirsch reserves special mention for American film star Paul Muni, who brings pathos and genuine dignity to the impoverished outcast and fugitive he portrays.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 60</ref>

== Footnotes == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} == Sources == *[[Dan Callahan | 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. *[[Foster Hirsch | 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}}

[[Category:1952 films]] [[Category:1952 drama films]] [[Category:1952 Italian-language films]] [[Category:Film noir]] [[Category:Films directed by Joseph Losey]] [[Category:United Artists films]] [[Category:Italian drama films]] [[Category:Italian black-and-white films]] [[Category:1952 Italian films]] [[Category:Italian-language drama films]]