The Prowler (1951)
(Joseph Losey, US 1951, 91 min., 35mm)
Senior Matinee. Set in a shadowy postwar Los Angeles, The Prowler focuses on a wealthy but neglected housewife (Evelyn Keyes) who spends her evenings alone, with only her husband’s voice on the radio for company. When she’s spooked by a peeping tom, a calculating cop (Van Heflin) answers the call, turning her ordered life upside down. The Prowler was the third of five films Losey made in Hollywood, and the most critically and commercially successful. The following year, Losey was officially blacklisted and soon embarked on a career abroad, where he eventually earned a reputation as a European auteur. Newly preserved 35mm print courtesy of UCLA; preservation funded by the Film Noir Foundation and the Stanford Theatre Foundation.