Notice: Undefined index: movie in /home/shops/qubmovies.com/htdocs/templates/template8/controllers/pages/entity.php on line 37

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #2 is not an array in /home/shops/qubmovies.com/htdocs/templates/template8/controllers/pages/entity.php on line 37

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in /home/shops/qubmovies.com/htdocs/templates/template8/controllers/pages/entity.php on line 37

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #2 is not an array in /home/shops/qubmovies.com/htdocs/templates/template8/controllers/pages/entity.php on line 37
Buy Somewhere in the Night Movie. Watch online or Download *** QubMovies, Somewhere in the Night, Crime, Film-Noir, USA, Sheldon Leonard, Richard Conte, Nancy Guild, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Crime, Film-Noir, divx, 1946
Movies: 18470   |   TV Series: 3282   |   Added today: 0   |   Storage: 65898 GB
BY GENRES
BY YEAR
BY LETTER

Buy Somewhere in the Night Movie. Watch online or Download

Somewhere in the Night

Genres: CrimeFilm-N

Starring: Sheldon Leonard, Richard Conte, Nancy Guild, Lloyd Nolan, Fritz Kortner, Josephine Hutchinson, John Hodiak

Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Country: USA

Year: 1946

Available Quality: DivX, iPod

IMDB Rating: 7 out of 10 (850 votes)

George Taylor returns from the WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, he tries to track down his old identity, stumbling into a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing 2 million.

Somewhere in the Night (iPod) Resolution: 480x352 px Total Size: 301 Mb
Somewhere in the Night (DivX) Resolution: 640x464 px Total Size: 1398 Mb

Movie Photos:

We have taken some photos of "Somewhere in the Night". They represent actual movie quality.

Visitors Review

pvassall (24 May 2012)

A great film noir....!


A really great example of film noir....A shame it's not shown more oftenontelevision....And, alas not available on video yet either.....(As far as Ican determine.) My cousin, Andy Lawler, produced this film so, I will haveto fess up to a degree of bias but, all in all a great watch if you enjoythis genre....Incidently, Andy chose the title for the film which was shotas 'LONELY JOURNEY.' Ironic that the title is the same used as a booktitleon film noir vehicles; but, so seldom shown on televison moviechannels....!

oscarbreath (24 May 2012)

A laugher


but it's not supposed to be. This one is just a mess, the plot is ...well, where IS the plot? Nancy Guild (rhymes with wild) does a very badBacall impression, Hodiak not quite handsome enough to pull off movieleads, Conte and Nolan dependable as always. Fritz and Margo make goodimpressions in bad parts.The best part of the 2005 version of the DVD is the commentary by EddieMuller; as a noir expert, he's not afraid to call a turkey a turkey andhe has a lot of fun poking fun at the movie and (surprisingly, sinceFox paid him) calling it out for what it is. So watch the movie just toget it over with, then sit back and enjoy Muller's critique. It's likea noir MST3000!

bux (16 May 2012)

Very good film-noir with a good supporting cast.


Hodiak is a WWII Marine vet, suffering amnesia and searching for his trueidentity. He returns to Los Angeles and becomes involved in two milliondollars of missing Nazi loot. Look for many familiar faces in smallsupporting roles. While watching this one, I kept thinking what a greatvehicle it would have been for John Ireland...then I checked the IMDB andfound that Ireland did the voice-over narration.......Freudian???

Gloede_The_Saint (16 May 2012)

Good and incredibly weird film


I will just make a few comments about this film.This is a highly irrational and illogical film noir. It's somethingquite rare I must say that, but in a good way? The answer to that ismore or less yes. A lot of it was genius but some of it was quite poor. It was also way too sarcastic. Felt like they tried to make a jokeabout, well just about everything. I did laugh a few times though, butit didn't fit! This wasn't a black comedy though it could have been onehell of a genius black comedy if they changed a few things.It's both unexpected in some parts yet quite predictable in others.I love Mankiewicz and his direction was fabulous, that must be said!But I'm not so sure about the story.I will say this though. It is good! See it if you have a chance! Iwon't directly recommend it since I only like to recommend films I lovebut yeah it is a nice little film!

lfisher0264 (15 May 2012)

Confusing but enjoyable


Nancy Guild is one of those heroines who look wry and quizzical all thetime while delivering would-be funny lines. I love the bad girl'scomeback to one of Nancy's cracks "Oh, are we going to have repartee?"Of course we are, this is a noir. One odd thing about the dialogue -why do the characters explain to each other what a private eye and ashamus are, and what a crystal ball is used for? Notice the scale ofcharges outside the fortune teller's gaff, though - The past! Thepresent! The future! Cards! Palmistry! Psychoanalysis 10 cents! Yes,the trappings and the patter change, but the game stays the same. Thereare good settings and interiors, especially in the house of the lonelywoman whose father is in the sinister sanitarium. But why is Nancy'sliving room full of Staffordshire figures and early Victorianportraits? Is this to indicate what a nice girl she is really eventhough she makes her living in a seedy club? But surely she wouldn't beable to afford to buy antiques? (And if some of the dialogue remindsyou of All About Eve, it was reused - to better effect. I'm somebody.You certainly are. You think?)

Alex da Silva (14 May 2012)

Why do detectives wear hats?


John Hodiak (George Taylor) wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. Hedoesn't even know who he is and he spends the rest of the film tryingto track down Larry Cravat who has left him some money. His journeytakes him to a nightclub called "The Cellar" where he meets Nancy Guild(Christy) and they form an alliance. So where is the mysterious MrCravat.....? It is so bleeding obvious where Mr Cravat is. You should guess thatpart of the plot within the first 15 minutes. However, there are othertwists and turns that keep you guessing and I didn't expect the finalplot development. As for the story, it can get a little complicated soyou need to just go along with it even though it is too long. The castare fine - my favourite character being Lloyd Nolan's Police Lieutenantwho has a way of letting people know that he pretty much knowseverything already. He's like Peter Falk's "Columbo". Nancy Guild lookslike a cross between Lauren Bacall and Ella Raines, and while manyreviewers have given her a hard time about her acting (my girlfriendincluded), I thought she was fine. It's something about her mannerisms,smugness and trying to act older than she is which seems to annoy.The film starts with an overlong narration and there are dumb parts tothe story, eg, why does Hodiak run out of the bank when he is asked tostay and have a quick word with the manager when he goes to cash hischeque from Larry Cravat. Surely, he would be only too pleased to speakto someone who may shed light on his past life or give him informationabout Larry Cravat. Another ludicrous concept that you have to acceptis that Hodiak fell onto a bomb when it exploded. He looks pretty goodto me. What a nonsense! However, there are a few moments that providetension, eg, the episode at the asylum and the scene at the docks whereHodiak and Guild go in search of $2 million. There is also a momentthat will make you jump when an attempt is made on Hodiak's life.You'll know the one I mean. That would have properly been game over! Overall, the film is a bit boring. Every scene, particularly at thebeginning, takes ages and you'll get fed up with the name of LarryCravat. Sadly, John Hodiak died unexpectedly while having a shave 9years after this film was made at the age of 41.

(12 May 2012)

A Spectral Radiance


This review is from: Somewhere in the Night (Fox Film Noir) (DVD) John Hodiak always reminds me of a pre-Travolta John Travolta, and his little mustache here exactly matches his sergeant's stripes. Nancy Guild is sultry, take-charge, jokey and terribly young. Her movie career didn't pan out the way it might have, and yet there's nothing to be ashamed of among her credits. GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY and BLACK MAGIC are especially good, and she's excellent in both. In SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT Hodiak and Guild make a great screen team, one I wish had been repeated in other films.Eddie Muller's commentary is sparse, considering his great reputation as the Czar of Film Noir. Over and over again I kept expecting him to mention things which even I knew. Repeatedly he tells us that "this sort of nightcclub is a staple of film noir," or "a crooked fortune teller is a staple of film noir." While he stops himself from saying what he apparently feels, that the film is a string of cliches, what we want from a commentary is not an analysis of how the film is similar to all others in its category; we want to know why it is different. He knows a lot about the movies, he just seems too casual to show it off. And he knows a lot about Mankiewicz, so I wonder during the film's extended Salvation Army scene, why he never thinks to compare it to similar scenes in Mankiewicz' later GUYS AND DOLLS. That would have made all the difference in watching it.And he's also maybe too macho to tell us much about Anderson Lawlor, the failed Hollywood actor of the 1920s whose producing debut this was. Muller mentions that Lawler was a "friend of Tallulah Bankhead," thus he has an indirect link to John Hodiak, with whom Bankhead co-starred in LIFEBOAT, but surely Lawler's notoriety as one of the few openly gay actors in Hollywood, and his status as Gary Cooper's "maybe" boyfriend could have been mentioned, if only to help illuminate some of the darker corners of SOMEWHERE's mise-en-scene, like that opening hospital tent scene, man after man in bed after bed, each one better looking than the next, or the scene in the "Elite Baths"? How do such scenes play out in light of Lawlor's biographical melodrama? For more details on Lawlor, interested parties mioght consult William Mann's BEHIND THE SCREEN: HOW GAYS AND LESBIANS SHAPED HOLLYWOOD 1910-1969, or JACK LAWRENCE'S recent memoir THEY ALL SANG MY SONGS.

(11 May 2012)

Real men don't ask for directions nor do they seek help for amnesia


This review is for the 2005 Twentieth Century Fox DVD.The film opens in a "MASH" unit near a World War II battleground where a wounded George Taylor (John Hodiak) slowly realizes that he has amnesia. Rather than confront the issue head on with the medical staff, he decides to try to regain his identity by using all of the people around him for feeding information about himself. When he is finally discharged from the military, he goes to Los Angeles to piece his past life back together. He later discovers that a friend he doesn't remember named Larry Cravatt left him some money at a bank. When George goes to the bank to withdraw the cash, George has reason to believe that the police are after him and flees the bank and then has to do a lot more detective work on his own. This sets up the rest of the film where the stakes suddenly are much bigger than he ever imagined since he discovers that he may have been involved in a murder that was tied to $2 million worth of missing money.Beyond the obvious issue of suffering from amnesia and refusing any medical help, the story goes off into a long string of highly improbable events that don't seem that well connected to each prior event. The main character just seems to have an uncanny knack of falling backwards into some other fantastic situation. In spite of these problems, the film does a few things right. First, it's a clearly a film noir movie set mostly in the seedier parts of Los Angeles and photographed with plenty of shadows and darkly lit settings. Another nice touch is that just about all of the supporting actors are recognizable characters from the classic film noir era. Even though the film has some of the necessary ingredients for success, the script is disappointing since it doesn't connect the dots that well from one scene to the next, and doesn't thoroughly sell the audience on several key points of the movie such as the main male character (Hodiak) and his relationship with the leading female character (Guild), the surprise villain, and how uncreatively the villain is brought to justice. Overall, I think classic film noir fans will still find the movie rewarding based on the visual presentation, but mystery buffs will be holding their noses with this plot. As for the DVD, the black and white full screen presentation is overall excellent. The picture is sharp and with superb contrast. The only minor problems were some graininess and occasional tiny signs of film deterioration, but considering the film was made in 1946, it's a great transfer. The DVD bonuses include commentary by noir author Eddie Mueller plus several other Fox Film Noir trailers.Movie: CDVD Quality: A-

(06 May 2012)

An amnesiac unravels the mystery of his existence


WW2 Combat veteran John Hodiak wakes up in a Honolulu military hospital with his jaws wired shut, face bandaged, and memory totally gone in the solid Joseph Mankiewicz directed film-noir "Somewhere in the Night".After a long convalescence he heads to Los Angeles based on a letter he has in his possession from a friend Larry Cravat. He learns that his name is George Taylor, as it is inscribed on his wallet.He begins asking around for Cravat in a local nightclub and immediately becomes the focus of mayhem courtesy of some shady locals. Hodiak meets and then confides his plight to nighclub singer Christy Smith played by attractive brunette Nancy Guild. She refers him to her boss Mel Phillips played by Richard Conte who helps by introducing him to slick L.A. detective Don Kendall played by Lloyd Nolan.We learn that Larry Cravat and two million dollars have mysteriously disappeared three years ago. The plot proceeds chronicling the revelation of the identity of Hodiak and the whereabouts of the money.While the film was nothing outstanding, it certainly was a convincing drama with satisfying storylines and acting performances.

Michael O'Keefe (06 May 2012)

Amnesia, a mysterious letter and two million dollars.


John Hodiak stars in this piece of Film-Noir. George Taylor(Hodiak)is abitter WWII veteran Marine with amnesia. He returns to Los Angeles withhopes of rediscovering his identity. He has only two clues linked tohis past: a vicious letter of woe from a woman that hates him andanother mysterious note from a "Larry Cravat". George in search ofCravat becomes involved with a winsome lounge singer(Nancy Guild)andher boss(Richard Conte). Police investigator Kendall(LloydNolan)informs the three that Cravat is wanted for murder and therobbery of two million dollars. But what is Taylor's connection? Forall he knows, since thugs are chasing him...hell, he himself may be themysterious Cravat.Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz co-writes the screenplay with HowardDinsdale. Hodiak is a passive leading man, while the attractive Guildalmost steals the movie from him. Nolan plays the copper with a dryhumor. Also in the cast: Sheldon Leonard, Fritz Kortner and Lou Nova.

(04 May 2012)

JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ, OPUS 2


**** 1946. Co-written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. An amnesiac tries to find out, all alone, in Los Angeles the man who could reveal him his identity. Another great film noir of the Fox collection even if its last 30 minutes are a little too verbose even for a film directed by Mankiewicz, the dialogue's wizard. Note Lloyd Nolan's performance as the detective movie-goer and bear in mind that the British writer Somerset Maugham also worked on the screen adaptation of the story. Recommended.

vanwall (03 May 2012)

Mankiewicz directs a night-time noir


Mankiewicz does it again. With a small cast of generally B actors, hemakesa nifty film-noir. John Hodiak has his best role, IMHO, and the mostlynight-time settings have a great look. Strange to see Fritz Kortner, fromthe Louise Brooks "Pandora's Box", as a slimy fortune-teller.

christopher-underwood (01 May 2012)

Very enjoyable and involving noir


Very enjoyable and involving noir. John Hodiak plays a WW2 veteranstruggling with insomnia and not many clues to go on. It's captivatingstuff and the pace is just right as we struggle, as does he, to workout what has gone on. As more people become involved, the plot reallythickens and we are in the familiar territory of seedy clubs, ruthlesshoods, car 'accidents', clairvoyance, a sanatorium and a wonderfullyevocative dark and dirty dockside. Great dialogue throughout and wittytoo. Nancy Guild is by no means stunning as the co-star helping Hodiakin his desperate race and I understand that Mankiewicz had to coach herindividually to help her with the delivery of her lines. Despite thisand because the story is so good her slightly faltering performance cantake nothing from this thriller.

Alex da Silva (30 April 2012)

Worth another look


George Taylor (John Hodiak) wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. Hedoesn't even know who he is and he spends the rest of the film tryingto track down Larry Cravat who has left him some money. His journeytakes him to a nightclub called "The Cellar" where he meets Christy(Nancy Guild) and they form an alliance. So where is the mysterious MrCravat.....? It is so bleeding obvious where Mr Cravat is. You should guess thatpart of the plot within 10 minutes. However, there are other twists andturns that keep you guessing and I didn't expect the final plotdevelopment. The story is confusing at times, especially at thebeginning, but it becomes more enjoyable as the film progresses. Youneed to just go along with it even though it is a little too long. Thecast are fine - my favourite character being Lloyd Nolan's PoliceLieutenant. Nancy Guild is a cross between Lauren Bacall and EllaRaines, and while many reviewers have given her a hard time about heracting (my girlfriend didn't think much of her either), I thought shewas fine, especially in her first scene with Hodiak at the nightclub.The film starts with an overlong narration and there are dumb parts tothe story, eg, why does Taylor run out of the bank when he is asked tostay and have a quick word with the manager when he goes to cash hischeque from Larry Cravat. Surely, he would be only too pleased to speakto someone who may shed light on his past life or give him informationabout Larry Cravat. Another ludicrous concept that you have to acceptis that Taylor fell onto a bomb when it exploded. He looks pretty goodto me. What a nonsense! However, there are also good moments thatprovide tension, eg, the episode at the asylum and the scene at thedocks where Taylor and Christy go in search of the missing £2 million.There is also a moment that will make you jump when an attempt is madeon Taylor's life. You'll know the one I mean. That would have properlybeen game over! It's a film that I'm keeping onto to watch again at a later date. Ithink it's worth a second look.

secondtake (24 April 2012)

A restrained but moody, interesting rather than dynamic, film noir


Somewhere in the Night (1948)This has all the gloomy, alienating, nighttime elements of the bestfilm noirs, and it's smack in the central Post War best of it. It evenhas a director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, known for handling dramatic,emotional situations with both delicacy and power. And it all pays off.Somewhere in the Night follows a man just out of the army sufferingamnesia, and he encounters a sordid past of crime he didn't know he hadanything to do with. The dilemma of American soldiers coming home changed men, and to a homecountry so changed it was like a foreign country, is the crux of mostnoir films, and this one plays into it straighter than most. The twistof true amnesia only makes the crisis of George Taylor more stark. Therole is played with subtlety, and some stiffness, by John Hodiak, Ithink because he is meant to be eternally confused by events (since heremembers nothing) and yet can't show his confusion, so he draws up ablank face. Mankiewicz works this inner problem out on the screen well,though choosing to keep the camera at a distance, as if filming a playsometimes, not a recommended film noir method for style, but it doesemphasize the psychology more discretely.The camera-work is stiff, too, as if constrained as much as Taylor isin his amnesia. You won't see many sharp angles up or down, no tilted(dutch angle) frames, little moving camera, and little of the easiestof 1940s camera effects, extreme close ups. All of this makes for a drylook, and for my money, with a plot this sensational, a dull one. Thiscinematography, by Norbert Brodine sets the tone for the whole movie,and I assume it is at Mankiewicz's request, and it just doesn't comparewell to other noirs, to Orson Welles, or to any number of Warnergangster films with similar shadowy subjects. Maybe the most extremeexample of this is the long dialog over the crystal ball, where thecamera just sits and watches. The lighting and the sets, in general, are dynamic, however, and theacting generally solid. And it has all the hallmarks (not quiteclichés) of the genre--thugs at the bar, a nightclub singer with a bigheart, a good guy who turns out to be a bad guy, and a cop who isclever and peripheral, like a sentry always ready. The movie is, truly,interesting, and doesn't let up as you have to figure out the puzzle ofwho did what and why. It won't sweep you off your feet or blow youaway, but it will be worth settling quietly into.

(23 April 2012)

reminiscent of Spellbound


This review is from: Somewhere in the Night (Fox Film Noir) (DVD) This film is about a man with amnesia (similar to Hitchcock`s spellbound) in that he`s trying to find out who he really is and in what way is he involved in a murder. A solid cast, good photography and well written. I found Nancy Guild to be adequate in her role, but there is no real chemistry between her and Hodiak. She reminded me of Veronica Lake who might have been better in the part with more charisma to offer. A good mystery that holds you to the end.

JB-12 (23 April 2012)

Early Joseph L. Mankiewicz film noir


The trademark of any Joseph L. Mankiewicz film is screenplay. It is oftensharp and crackling as in his award winning "A Letter To Three Wives" and"All About Eve". In this Mankiewicz's second directoral effort the seedsof his future successes are sown.John Hodiak plays a wounded marine who wakes up in a hospital not knowingwho he is, but finding among his possessions 2 letters, one from a womantelling him what a cad he is and another from a friend of his that willleadhim down a path lined with several murders, 2 million dollars and a coupleof good looking women.While "Somewhere In The Night" sounds like any one of the many detectivethrillers of the 40s, it is lifted from the routine is the script whichhasa distinct Mankiewicz ring to itHis touch is evident in several places, including meetings with a seedyfortune teller, superbly played by Fritz Kortner, an atypical cop playedbyLloyd Nolan who doesn't understand why "movie cops" always "have theirhatson", and a spinster played by Josephine Hutchinson who gives Hodiak a hopewhen she says she recognizes him.You may or may not figure out the plot. It matters not. The film is anenjoyable one.

bmacv (22 April 2012)

Even for an amnesiac noir, this archetypal entry is too often forgotten


Borrowed as the title of Nicholas Christopher's study of film noir and theAmerican city, Somewhere In The Night remains a movie less familiar thanLaura or The Big Sleep or Out of the Past. But it's almost in their class –an atmospheric and at times archetypal noir, the first directorial effort ofJoseph L. Mankiewicz and the first major post-war feature to use the deviceof amnesia-as-metaphor: How vets survived global cataclysm only to have toconstruct new lives in a homeland that had, in their absence, turned intoalien territory.Drifting up out of coma in a military hospital, John Hodiak can't figure outwhy everybody calls him George Taylor. Only two letters offer clues to whohe is, one from a vindictive girl he ditched, the other apparently from anold pal, Larry Cravat. Without much to go on, he heads to Los Angeles totrack down Cravat and thus himself. But as he skulks though the city's darkdemimonde (Turkish baths, mobbed-up nightclubs, phony spiritualist parlors,insane asylums), he's quick to learn that other people don't want Cravatfound. Yet he finds allies in club canary Nancy Guild, her boss RichardConte, and police detective Lloyd Nolan. He also finds that the reason forall the violence unleashed against and around him is $2-million in Nazimoney (which disappeared in 1942, the year he joined the Marines). Cravatproves both elusive and uncomfortably close....Somewhere In The Night boasts a strong cast in supporting (Conte, Nolan,Fritz Kortner) and even tertiary roles (Sheldon Leonard, Whit Bissell, HenryMorgan, with special mention to Josephine Hutchinson, who plays a poignantlargo midway though the movie). Where it offers scant measure is in itsprincipals. 20th-Century Fox was grooming Guild as its answer to Warners'sultry sensation Lauren Bacall, failing to grasp that Guild's appeal wasless romantic than matey – the gal pal (like a couple of other Nancys fromthat era, Olson and Davis). Hodiak's more problematic. He enjoyed a few years in the Hollywoodlimelight (Lifeboat, Marriage Is A Private Affair, Desert Fury, CommandDecision) before his untimely death in 1955. But he never brought theillumination – the star quality – to his work that would elevate it from thecompetent to the classic. So he stays generic through his picaresqueordeals, without the specific anguish that distinguished, for example, JohnPayne or even Gordon MacRae and Edmond O'Brien as they underwent theirs (in,respectively, The Crooked Way, Backfire and D.O.A.).Mankiewicz' first go as director comes as a surprise. Most vividlyremembered as writer/director of A Letter To Three Wives and the immortalAll About Eve (movies whose sparkling scripts camouflaged their lack ofvisual interest), he generates a menacing look in his nightscapes for theCity of Angels, camping out in Bunker Hill walk-ups and on Skid Row. Thestoryline's almost as complicated as The Big Sleep's, and as murky, but thenclockwork plots never sat well in film noir – the universe it dwells instays random, volatile, unfathomable.

mackjay (17 April 2012)

Hodiak, Conte and a host of Great Supporting Players in a Class-A Film Noir


SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT is not only a pleasure in terms of plot andatmosphere, it is filled with terrific supporting actors: Lloyd Nolan, JeffCorey, Whit Bissell, Sheldon Leonard, Henry Morgan, Fritz Kortner, and thesuperb, virtually ignored Josephine Hutchinson, who has the emotional centerof the film as a lonely victim of the murderous scheme. Some may rememberHutchinson as the android babysitter from The Twilight Zone episode "I Singthe Body Electric". And when are Corey, Bissell, Morgan and Nolan notwelcome? Only Nancy Guild fails to equal her surrounding players, but shegets to deliver a few wry observations.Not much can be said about Richard Conte, without spoiling the plot, butthis is another one of the infallible actor's memorable characterizations.John Hodiak probably never had enough opportunities to play lead in goodfilms. We are fortunate to have here his extremely convincing amnesiacveteran: in a sense, the ultimate existential noir protagonist. A voicecredit has been given to John Ireland, but it certainly sounds like Hodiakduring the nightmarish opening sequence.This was the second film Mankiewicz directed, and it's a big improvementover DRAGONWYCK. SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT belongs in the canon of compulsoryFilm Noir. Go out of your way to see it.

T Y (17 April 2012)

Plot by the pound


This is not good. It's some sort of generic, B-movie, noir epic ...withall of those ideas in conflict. Twenty "developments" get teased out,to no discernible entertainment value. It's a very, very long movietrying hard to believe it has peaks and structure, but themeaninglessness begins piling up quite early. The actors drift, becauseMankewicz isn't doing anything to shape the movie. It ain't deep, sowhy is it the length of an opera? I'll give you twenty minutes todetect the big twist. You'll still be ahead of the characters by 80 or90 minutes. The script is overdeveloped, and can't bear inspection forits two hour length. The cast of characters is rather extended. It'sjust a mess, going through the noir motions, and a uniform texture oftedium. It's uninvolving in the extreme. Hodiak has leading man looks but very little presence. He's exactly thesame from scene to scene; inexpressive, diffuse. He's like a prop thatcan talk.Eddie Muller seems silently aware of the problems, and doesn't evenbother with any framing remarks in his glib, unhelpful commentary. Hejust starts describing things on the screen. If Eddie Muller can't helpyou find the merit in a noir, you're in for a long ride. I can't thinkof a single reason you should watch this. This and 'The Big Knife' arethe two most tedious movies I've seen in the last ten years. Notrecommended.

Review total: 20, showing from 1 to 20

© 2009-2012 QubMovies All rights reserved