Stranger on the Prowl

"Stranger on the Prowl" is probably the one Losey movie most people haven't heard of. He made it largely on location in Italy in 1952 from a screenplay by Ben Barzman, (like Losey, Barzman was also a victim of the blacklist), and it gave Paul Muni a late starring role as a drifter on the run who strikes up a friendship with a small boy who comes to share his hiding place. Although technically an Italian film, it's in English and while hardly a masterpiece it's still a remarkable piece of work, a cross between Italian Neo-Realism and American Film Noir and it remains an essential part of the Losey canon.

It's a story the cinema has tackled many times with varying degrees of success. This one works in large part to the fine performances of Muni and Vittorio Manunta as the boy but mainly due to Losey's mostly unsentimental handling of the material and his brilliant use of his Italian locations. It may be difficult to see these days but it shouldn't be missed if you get the opportunity.

Despite a few effective moments, Muni unaccountably overplays in this film & Losey's direction is without his usual control and taste. The story, of a drifter in Italy, is incoherent and the characterisation, especially Muni's role, so scanty that it's difficult to understand motivation.

"Stranger on the Prowl" is an Italian film that seems to be a lot like the Neo-Realist films the country was producing in the years immediately following the Second World War. It mostly stars folks who don't look like professional actors and the setting is the streets of Italy. But it's unlike a true Neo-Realist film because it stars an American actor (Paul Muni) and an American director (Joseph Losey). In Losey's case, he had been blacklisted and needed the work. I am not sure why Muni, an Oscar winner, would be 'slumming it' in such a simple picture.

When the story begins, a man (Muni) is trying to get money for a passage out of the country. You don't know why he feels he needs to leave...but he obviously is desperate. At the same time, little Giaccomo has gambled away the money he was supposed to use to buy milk...and his family is quite poor. To try to keep out of trouble, the boy steals the milk...but thinks he's been spotted. Instead, the stranger has murdered the shopkeeper. Now both are on the run together and the boy thinks the police are after him.

The story is incredibly simple...like such Neo-Realist films as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thieves" and "Umberto D". But as I mentioned above, the film also has Americans starring in the film and directing it. Because of this, you would expect more from the film...but don't really get it. Muni's okay...but that's about all. And as for Losey, he's okay, too...but nothing more. A simple story that really isn't all that interesting overall.

A great actor remains a great actor even in a small film, and I'm not talking about a short film. I am talking about this film which is not Paul Muni's best film, it is only a modest film in the style of Italian neorealism from the years after the second world war, neorealism perfected by directors such as Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Alberto Lattuada, Carlo Lizzani, Aldo Vergano, Pietro Germi and Luigi Zampa. Joseph Losey acquitted himself of the task in a more than decent way. Likewise, the unique, extraordinary Paul Muni, who didn't have much to do here, to show off his infinite talent. Excellent children, the boy played by Vittorio Manunta, and the girl, his sister, Fausta Mazzucchelli. Luisa Rossi in the role of the mother, Joan Loring, in the role of Angela, Héléna Manson in the role of the victim killed in the store, and a constant collaborator of Federico Fellini, Aldo Silvani, in the role of Peroni, are very convincing.

American expatriate Joseph Losey now working in Europe because of the blacklist teamed with star Paul Muni to make Stranger On The Prowl. It's a downbeat story of a man just looking for food and shelter and to earn passage on a ship.

A said combination of circumstances lead to the accidental death of an old woman shopkeeper and Muni is now wanted for murder. He teams up with a small boy Vittorio Manuta who has run away from home.

The story is uneven kind of moves in fits and starts. The best thing it has going for it is the stark cinematography of post war italy in particular Tuscany. Young Manuta delivers a good perforance and works nicely with Muni.

Another American expatriate Joan Lorring has a small role here.

Not one of Losey's best, nor hardly Muni's, but all right.