I’ve now seen three Joseph Losey films, with The Prowler following The Boy With Green Hair (1948) and These Are The Damned (1963). The best phrase I can think of to describe my reaction to his work is harmless indifference. I like Losey’s directorial creativity from a thought process standpoint, but the finished product seems to be a mediocre expression of a talented mind. The Prowler, for instance, opens with the attractive Susan Gilvray (Evenlyn Keyes) soaking in the bathtub in the evening. She glances out the open windows, screams, and closes the blinds. Losey then cuts to two policeman—Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) and Bud Crocker (John Maxwell)—knocking on the front door of her palatial California home, investigating her call of a stranger skulking about on her front lawn. This is important: as The Prowler progresses, we quickly begin to question whether or not there even was a prowler at all. Was Susan, the wife of the famous radio DJ John Gilvray (Sherry Hall)—a man whom she, and we, hardly ever see—simply clamoring for attention? Was her loneliness causing her eyes to play tricks? Or did she really see something? The Prowler gradually evolves into a depiction of lust, emotional & sexual insecurity, and just how far people will go—and where their boundaries lie.

All this makes for a pretty cool setup, which makes the perfectly-passable-but-fairly-bland end result all the more disappointing. There’s just a lack of energy to the entire proceedings: the final 20 minutes in a dusty ghost town are fairly strong, but mediocre acting keeps them from having any major clout. Heflin in particular is a weak choice for a leading role: his facial expressions seem to be permanently etched in either some sort of smirk or a look of disgust. Losey’s script is fine, but doesn’t really draw the audience in, or inspire compassion for any of the characters. As a result, even The Prowler‘s best sequences lack any deep emotional heft. This all sounds a bit harsher than it should, really—The Prowler is entertaining, brisk, and certainly not a shallow work. But it leaves the viewer with this lingering feeling of what could have been.

56/100