The Sniper

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Dmytryk directs. Burnett Guffey behind the camera. George Antheil scores. Aaron Stell cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 274 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by George Antheil. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Aaron Stell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Arthur Franz and Adolphe Menjou and Gerald Mohr carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "To the Police--Stop Me--Find Me and Stop Me--I'm Going to Do it Again".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0045161 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 84 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Burnett Guffey

Original score

George Antheil

Editing

Aaron Stell

Production design

Rudolph Sternad

Runtime

88 min · 1h 28m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Sniper (1952) ↗

Also by

Edward Dmytryk

• 
  Not Only Strangers

  1979 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Reluctant Saint

  1962 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Television Spy

  1939 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Under Age

  1941 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Caine Mutiny

  1954 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Murder, My Sweet

  1944 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Sniper (1952) Original Trailer [FHD]

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2014-04-24
  ★ 8/10

  You must stop me before I do it again. "High among police problems is that of the sex criminal, responsible last year alone for offences which victimised 31,175 women. Adequate and understanding laws do not exist. Law enforcement is helpless. Here in terms of one case, is the story of a man whose enemy was womankind" Produced by Stanley Kramer, directed by Edward Dmytryk and photographed by Burnett Guffey. Those three things were enough to make me positively desperate to see this film at the earliest opportunity, what I hadn't counted on, and what a true surprise it was too, was just what a taut and tightly scripted picture it is. Written by Edward and Edna Anhalt, who were academy award nominated for their efforts, The Sniper has an edgy griminess to it that itches away at the skin. It's not that the violence is particularly harsh, because it isn't and it's simply executed, it's that our protagonist Edward 'Eddie' Miller is on the surface a normal every day Joe, someone who may be living in our respective neighbourhoods. This is one of those films that, and I disagree with some of my fellow reviewers on the net, is as relevant today as it was back in 1952. Problems of not recognising psychotic tendencies do still way lay our respective societies, the police and medical staff do still have problems nipping in the bud potential street walking maniacs from being in our midst. Here we get Arthur Franz ("Sands of Iwo Jima" & "The Caine Mutiny") as Miller brilliantly essaying a mind fragmenting by the day, his hatred of women born from some dark place long back in his childhood. Even little girls on the street bring him out in a sweat, as a mother slaps her child, Miller feels the burn on his very own face as well. Some scenes linger once the film has long since finished, a chimney stack shooting or a fair ground sequence as Miller's built up frenzy rises to the surface, all brilliantly put together by Dmytryk and Guffey, with the latter's work in and around San Francisco very impressive. Fleshing out the cast with impacting results is Adolphe Menjou, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen & Richard Kiley. It's a fabulous character study that also excellently brings notice to the plight of police procedural matters on a case such as this. No this film isn't some sex maniac shocker that defined a genre, it is however an important film in many ways. The themes that it highlights are not to be ignored, and for 1952 this film to me has to be seen as a landmark of sorts, certainly its influence can be found in many a similar films that followed further on down the line. Finally, because it's largely unseen, it's now available on DVD (excellent print), so hopefully more people can get to see this highly recommended film. A film that may be beautiful to look at, but most assuredly is very very dark in thematics. 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• ST

  Stanley Kramer Productions

  US

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• ProducerStanley Kramer
• EditorAaron Stell
• StuntsBob Herron
• Art DirectionWalter Holscher
• Sound EngineerFrank Goodwin
• Production DesignRudolph Sternad

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• sniper
• san francisco, california
• nightclub
• film noir
• b movie
• sniper rifle

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1952-05-09NR

Also known as

International titles

• 狙撃者JP