Tonight's Movie: The Killer is Loose (1956) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

THE KILLER IS LOOSE (1956), a nifty little 73-minute thriller directed by Budd Boetticher, was reissued this week on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

In this film from a screenplay written by Harold Medford, based on a story by John and Ward Hawkins, Wendell Corey plays Leon Poole, who initially seems to be a mild-mannered bank clerk.

As the movie begins, the bank where Poole works is robbed. Poole acts heroically attempting to fight off the robbers, but it later emerges that Poole was an "inside man" on the job.

When the police, headed by Detective Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten), come to arrest him, Poole refuses to answer his door. A gunfight ensues, and Poole's innocent, beloved wife (Martha Crawford) is caught in the crossfire and accidentally killed by Sam.

Poole is captured and becomes a model prisoner, resulting in his transfer to a minimum security work farm a couple years into his sentence. At this point he breaks loose, killing several people as he makes his way toward Detective Wagner's house. His goal? To kill Sam's wife, Lila (Rhonda Fleming), so that Sam will experience the same sense of loss he's gone through.

I first saw this film in 2009, and while I liked it pretty well, I think with the passage of 15 years I liked it even more this time around. Yes, it has some annoying bits, particularly Lila making a dopey decision near the end, but I was a little more willing to cut her some slack this time around. After all, she's pregnant and her emotions were probably off kilter even before a killer started heading for her home...

Basically, my criticisms from 2009 remain relevant, but I like the positives the movie has going for it so much that I was more forgiving.

The movie has a number of terrific L.A. locations, flatly yet appropriately filmed by Lucien Ballard, and an absolutely terrific supporting cast. Any movie which boasts Virginia Christine, John Beradino, Michael Pate, Alan Hale (Jr.), and Arthur Space in main supporting roles gets my rapt attention.

Christine, playing Mary, the wife of the detective played by Pate, is terrific as always. Christine always makes the most of her moments (HIGH NOON is just one example), and she has a great scene here telling off Lila regarding her unsupportive attitude toward her hubby and his dangerous job.

One would think after Mary's lecture that Lila would stay put in hiding, out of the way of the killer, but apparently she's so filled with remorse she wants to be with her husband...which wasn't very smart. Ah, well. Cotten and Fleming's relationship could have been fleshed out a little more, but given the movie's short running time, they do what they can.

As for Corey, he's absolutely terrifying. The scene where he has a completely flat affect as he shoots a former army colleague at pointblank range really makes the stakes clear. Poole has already killed other people, and when we watch this scene we know he absolutely does not care and will do anything.

It's worth noting that director Boetticher's very next film was 7 MEN FROM NOW (1956), beginning his very successful seven-film collaboration with Randolph Scott.

This Blu-ray print is excellent, with a good soundtrack.

This disc is given a Special Edition presentation with a cardboard slipcase. Extras consist of a trailer, plus a gallery of nine additional movie trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber and a commentary track by Gary Gerani.

Recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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