DVD review: 'Follow Me Quietly' deserves bigger following

“Follow Me Quietly” is a 1949 programmer directed by Richard Fleischer (who would go on to helm 1952′s “The Narrow Margin,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” “Torra! Torra! Torra!” and “Soylent Green”) and an uncredited Anthony Mann (“Winchester ’73,” “The Naked Spur,” “El Cid,” “The Fall of the Roman Empire”) who did receive co-writing credit for this original screen story about a police detective (William Lundigan) obsessed with the capture of a serial killer who calls himself “The Judge” and strikes only on rainy nights.

Co-starring Dorothy Patrick as a tabloid reporter also hot on the delusional, self-righteous strangler’s trail, and Jeff Corey as the detective’s easygoing partner, the film plays out much like the previous year’s noir cult favorite “He Walks by Night,” another night-stalker thriller also co-directed by Mann — again uncredited.