Early In Annals Of Serial Killing

Follow Me Quietly (1949) Is A Quiet Trend-Setter

What with every movie or TV show today about serial killers, how's for nod to pioneering Follow Me Quietly, an RKO manhunt that got it done in brief (59 minutes) and for $259K in negative cost, yet still lost money (only $325K in worldwide rentals). Set-up was queasy, a killer called "The Judge" who throws victims out high windows or breaks into women's homes to strangle them from behind. I wonder if the Code kept most part embargo on psycho killer yarns, or were fewer of them submitted during the Classic Era? This one, for all of cheapness, has unease to spare. At one point, the killer seats himself at inner sanctum of police precinct, a cheeky and creepy affront to pursuers. Follow Me Quietlyreminded me at times of Seven, being procedural that tickles the horror genre. Val Lewton could have done much here, content and killer bringing to mind his The Leopard Man. RKO merchandising saw chiller ties, Terry Turner as head of publicity selling Follow Me Quietly as Eerie!, Creepy!, and Weird! Inspiration for bent killer narratives had to begin somewhere, and writers who'd later take up the concept may well have gotten start seeing Follow Me Quietly on late night TV.

Follow Me Quietly was distinctly a B. All majors increased low-budget output after the war, service for dual bills as necessary as before WWII boom that briefly made cheaper films less a priority. RKO, like Columbia and Universal, had kept with humbler fare for most of release schedules since beginnings --- by late 40's you could count yearly specials from these on one hand. Follow Me Quietly came on heels of Howard Hughes as fresh owner of RKO, being the first, said Variety (8-5-48), "to tee off ... (a) program of 10 to 11 pictures which will be made between now and the end of the year." Hughes left small product alone, recalled Richard Fleischer, who wrote colorfully of B directing days for the beeping tower (Just Tell Me When To Cry, published 1993). Fleischer did a string of what we applaud as noir, lower tier it's true, but up-and-up progress culminated in The Narrow Margin, which made his reputation and was eventual route out of quickies. Follow Me Quietly falls in latter category (20 days shooting, said 7-11-49 Variety), Fleischer's concern was that most such pics would not be seen by a meaningful audience, let alone by critics who could pull him out of a budget hole. RKO salary that Fleischer drew peaked at around $750, which gave little cushion against unemployment later on (a family to support, so how much from paychecks could he save?). Fleischer was glad to be associated with sleeper hits like The Narrow Margin and other noirs, but they weren't route to wealth. He got stung too by Howard Hughes dithering once pictures were finished. Hughes liked to inspect work at leisure, and that in some cases left product a year on shelves while "anal erotic" HH (Fleischer's term) tended distractions elsewhere. Follow Me Quietly wrapped in 1948, but wouldn't see release until summer '49, where it backed RKO likes of She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Mighty Joe Young, or loaded vaudeville (Chicago's Palace used Quietlybehind eight stage acts).