Issues of identity are primary concerns in Joseph Losey's films, and the theme of the "other" pops up in odd ways, as in the Faustian master-servant struggle in The Servant, or the Jew-Gentile relationship in Mr. Klein. In The Prowler, it takes the form of a policeman (Van Heflin) who gradually becomes the lurking predator of the film's title. Called to check out the home of a woman (Evelyn Keyes) who suspects a prowler on the premises, the cop discovers no one but the lonely wife of a very wealthy man. He lingers, leaves, and then returns to lie in wait for the husband. In the desperate affair that ensues we follow the cop on the trail of his own cupidity, starting amid the couches and coffee tables of the L.A. nouveau riche and ending up in the white space of a desert ghost town. Losey's direction is masterful, already integrating decor and camera style into the narrative in a way that would become his trademark in his European films. The screenplay is by Dalton Trumbo, like Losey a blacklisted artist.