Stranger on the Prowl

Imbarco a mezzanotte (internationally released as Stranger on the Prowl, also known as Giacomo and Encounter) is a 1952 Italian drama film directed by Joseph Losey and featuring Paul Muni.

The picture was the first to be made abroad by any blacklisted Hollywood director. Due to the political blacklist, Losey was credited for the story and direction under the name Andrea Forzano.

Muni traveled to Italy to star in the film partly as an act of solidarity and support for blacklisted 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.

Cast

• Paul Muni as The Stranger With A Gun
• Joan Lorring as Angela, a lonely woman
• Vittorio Manunta as Giacomo, a small boy
• Luisa Rossi as Giacomo's Mother
• Aldo Silvani as Peroni, the junk dealer
• Arnoldo Foà as Inspector-in-Charge
• Alfredo Varelli as The Neighborhood Patrolman
• Héléna Manson as Grocery Store Clerk
• Enrico Glori as Signor Pucci
• Linda Sini as Signora Raffetto

Retrospective appraisal

Film historian Foster Hirsch considers the Stranger on the Prowl deserving of “more attention than it has received.”

The film is clearly influenced by Italian neorealism and consequently is “markedly different” in its mise-en-scene from Losey’s previous Hollywood, and his subsequent British produced film, notably lacking in their claustrophobic “closed qualities.” Hirsch writes:

The film is set in the cavernous, bombed-out of a severely depleted 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.”

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

Footnotes

Sources

• Callahan, Dan. 2003. Losey, Joseph. Senses of Cinema, March 2003. Great Directors Issue 25.https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/losey/#:~:text=The dominant themes of Losey's,love story in his films. Accessed 12 October, 2024.
• Hirsch, Foster. 1980. Joseph Losey. Twayne Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-8057-9257-0
• Palmer, James and Riley, Michael. 1993. The Films of Joseph Losey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England. ISBN 0-521-38386-2

External links

• Imbarco a mezzanotte at IMDb