William Lundigan had two of his finest “B” hours at RKO with Robert Wise’s Mystery in Mexico, and the marvelous little film, Follow Me Quietly, directed by Richard O. Fleischer. All the flair and pacing of The Narrow Margin which were soon to give Fleischer his reputation are already in evidence in this terrific little mystery. Ideas tossed around by Anthony Mann and Francis Rosenwald were crafted by Lillie Hayward into a tightly written screenplay; nice touches of secondary conversations adding color and zip to the main action and plot. Lundigan today gets a bad wrap but in this fun mystery, perhaps even more so than in Mystery in Mexico, you can see it was only the material he was often given which held him back. He’s solid and likable here, reminiscent of Alan Ladd.

Ann Gorman (Dorothy Patrick) braves the rain hoping to pop in the local police hangout and get the scoop on a strangler the cops can't seem to stop. Lundigan is Lt. Harry Grant, who wants no part of her or tabloid rag she works for. Catching the “Judge” as he has been named by the papers is his only priority. The Judge only kills on rainy nights, and it’s been raining a lot lately. Grant’s frustration comes to a head in this breezily paced mystery when he helplessly watches the editor of a local paper dictate his own final story after becoming the killer's seventh victim to date.

Some nice back and forth between Grant and Ann enlivens things as she begins to grow on him. An excellent scene where it is Grant who undresses and readies himself for bed after Anne has finagled her way into his apartment is a nice reverse twist which and adds spark to the couple’s pleasant budding romance.

With tons of evidence yet no real clues, Grant gets the idea of making a dummy with all the killer’s characteristics except a face, to aid police in their search. While it sounds corny, it is done quite well and Lillie Hayward’s script has a dynamite scene of Grant talking to the life-size mannequin that is not to be missed. A magazine dropped at the scene of the eighth victim and an exciting chase where Grant nearly bites the dust punctuating the mystery.

William Lundigan and Dorothy Patrick work nicely together in this one, and Jeff Corey is solid as Lundigan’s pal, Sgt. Collins. Marlo Dwyer contributes a nice turn also as a waitress who may have unknowingly served a killer.

Nicely photographed by Robert de Grasse, with an excellent screenplay from Lillie Hayward and fine direction from Fleischer, this is an enjoyable way to kill an hour on a Saturday afternoon or pass the time on a rainy night when you can’t sleep. A “B” film for sure, but the kind of find that makes up for all the “B” films that didn’t live up to the grade. This one gets ten stars where I'm concerned. Fans of the genre who pick this one up will be delighted. Highly recommended! ( )