# Stranger on the Prowl

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1952 Italian drama film

For the Indian song, see [Ek Ajnabee](/source/Ek_Ajnabee).

Imbarco a mezzanotte Theatrical release poster Directed by Joseph Losey Screenplay by Ben Barzman Based on the story "La bouteille du lait" by Noël Calef Produced by Noël Calef Starring Paul Muni Cinematography Henri Alekan Antonio Fiore Edited by Thelma Connell Music by Giulio Cesare Sonzogno Production companies Riviera Films Tirrenia Film Distributed by United Artists Release dates March 12, 1952 (1952-03-12) (Italy) November 9, 1953 (1953-11-09) (US) Running time 90 minutes Country Italy Language Italian

***Imbarco a mezzanotte*** (internationally released as ***Stranger on the Prowl***, also known as *Giacomo* and *Encounter*) is a 1952 Italian [drama film](/source/Drama_film) directed by [Joseph Losey](/source/Joseph_Losey) and featuring [Paul Muni](/source/Paul_Muni).[1][2][3]

The picture was the first to be made abroad by any [blacklisted](/source/Hollywood_blacklist) Hollywood director.[4] Due to the political blacklist, Losey was credited for the story and direction under the name Andrea Forzano.[5][6]

Muni traveled to Italy to star in the film partly as an act of solidarity and support for [blacklisted](/source/Hollywood_blacklist) 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.[7]

## Cast

- [Paul Muni](/source/Paul_Muni) as The Stranger With A Gun

- [Joan Lorring](/source/Joan_Lorring) as Angela, a lonely woman

- Vittorio Manunta as Giacomo, a small boy

- [Luisa Rossi](/source/Luisa_Rossi) as Giacomo's Mother

- [Aldo Silvani](/source/Aldo_Silvani) as Peroni, the junk dealer

- [Arnoldo Foà](/source/Arnoldo_Fo%C3%A0) as Inspector-in-Charge

- [Alfredo Varelli](/source/Alfredo_Varelli) as The Neighborhood Patrolman

- [Héléna Manson](/source/H%C3%A9l%C3%A9na_Manson) as Grocery Store Clerk

- [Enrico Glori](/source/Enrico_Glori) as Signor Pucci

- [Linda Sini](/source/Linda_Sini) as Signora Raffetto

## Retrospective appraisal

“*Stranger on the Prowl,* made at the end of the [neorealist revolution](/source/Italian_neorealism) in Italian cinema, has the grainy texture and the naturalistic mood of the films by [De Sica](/source/Vittorio_De_Sica) or [Rosellini](/source/Roberto_Rossellini). Since it tells the story of a man and a boy, it contains echoes of De Sica’s *[The Bicycle Thief](/source/Bicycle_Thieves)* (1948). - Film critic [Foster Hirsch](/source/Foster_Hirsch) in *Joseph Losey* (1980)[8]

Film historian [Foster Hirsch](/source/Foster_Hirsch) considers the *Stranger on the Prowl* deserving of “more attention than it has received.”[9]

The film is clearly influenced by [Italian neorealism](/source/Italian_neorealism) and consequently is “markedly different” in its [mise-en-scene](/source/Mise-en-sc%C3%A8ne) from Losey’s previous Hollywood, and his subsequent British produced films, notably lacking in their claustrophobic “closed qualities.”[10] Hirsch writes:

The film is set in the cavernous, bombed-out [word missing] of a severely depleted [post-war](/source/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.”[11]

Hirsch reserves special mention for American film star Paul Muni, who brings pathos and genuine dignity to the impoverished outcast and fugitive he portrays.[12]

## Footnotes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [*Imbarco a mezzanotte*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043671/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 157-158: Filmography

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 234: Filmography

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** 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.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “Because of the Hollywood blacklist, Losey wrote and directed the film under the name of Andrea Forzano.”

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Callahan, 2003: See here for repercussions from blacklisting. “he never shot another film in the USA.”

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 58: Plot sketch.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 58

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 60: “...the film is rarely shown…”

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 59-60

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 59: Ellipsis for brevity, clarity: meaning unaltered.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Hirsch, 1980 p. 60

## Sources

- [Callahan, Dan](/source/Dan_Callahan). 2003. *Losey, Joseph.* *[Senses of Cinema](/source/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](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](/source/Foster_Hirsch). 1980. Joseph Losey. *[Twayne Publishers](/source/Twayne_Publishers)*, Boston, Massachusetts. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8057-9257-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8057-9257-0)

- Palmer, James and Riley, Michael. 1993. *The Films of Joseph Losey.* [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press), Cambridge, England. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-38386-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-38386-2)

## External links

- [*Imbarco a mezzanotte*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043671/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

v t e Films directed by Joseph Losey The Boy with Green Hair (1948) The Lawless (1950) M (1951) The Prowler (1951) The Big Night (1951) Stranger on the Prowl (1952) The Sleeping Tiger (1954) A Man on the Beach (1955) The Intimate Stranger (1956) Time Without Pity (1957) The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958) Blind Date (1959) The Criminal (1960) Eva (1962) The Damned (1962) The Servant (1963) King and Country (1964) Modesty Blaise (1966) Accident (1967) Boom! (1968) Secret Ceremony (1968) Figures in a Landscape (1970) The Go-Between (1971) The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) A Doll's House (1973) Galileo (1975) The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) Monsieur Klein (1976) Roads to the South (1978) Don Giovanni (1979) The Trout (1982) Steaming (1985)

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