Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Lawbolisted Powerful

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

philosopherjack The title of Fritz Lang's Clash by Night and its placement in his filmography might lead you to expect a film noir, and a couple of its characters (played by Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan) express themselves almost entirely through noir-soaked barbs and aphorisms, reflecting the tortured worldviews beneath. But they're heavily displaced from noir territory (Ryan's character works as a projectionist, a neat evocation of such displacement), set down in a fishing village, both reeling from recent bumpy emotional rides. The film starts by immersing us in the ships, the unloading of the catch, the processing, the surrounding culture, and never loses its sense of that setting; at other times, in its growing sense of domesticity as prison and in the expressiveness of its interiors, it feels like Douglas Sirk as much as Lang. Despite her better judgment, Stanwyck's May gives in to the pursuit of fishing captain Jerry (Paul Douglas), a man too decently straightforward to arouse her interest, and tries to make it as a wife and mother; it's inevitable that his self-loathing friend Earl (Ryan) will eventually constitute a more interesting proposition. The movie teems with portrayals of flawed masculinity - old drunks, younger men with overly fixed ideas about what they expect of their women; it also has Marilyn Monroe as Stanwyck's main female confidant, astute enough to see her point of view, but not to avoid similar traps. Whether one categorizes it as noir or domestic melodrama or an amalgam of both, it's a compellingly articulated study, with a "happy" ending (at least in the sense that it tends to the imperatives of domesticity and continuity over those of uncertain desire) so compromised and understated that it allows no clear winners. In this sense, as in Lang's greatest films, the implications run wide and deep, to a clash and a night that may never end.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . had to write essays about how THEY thought a short story called "The Lady or the Tiger" REALLY ended. He said that he always thought that there was a Tiger behind the Green Door. It seems that CLASH BY NIGHT--also from the 1900s--has an ambiguous "Lady or Tiger" conclusion as well. Though Brutish Sardiner Jerry SAYS that Baby Gloria is sleeping, there are absolutely NO baby sounds coming from the other room below decks on this movie's soundtrack. This leaves viewers to wonder exactly WHAT greets life-long wanton strumpet Mae when this adulterous mommy ventures behind her own Green Door. Is it a preternaturally quiet babe sleeping safe and sound, as the Cuckolded Papa Jerry has suggested? Or has this bear of a man been exposed to one DANGEROUS LIAISON too many, and gone all Glenn Close over Mae's FATAL ATTRACTION? (Only this time it's not RABBIT stew simmering in the cook pot.) It's hard to guess how the Papal Reps controlling America's censor board in 1952 would have resolved this conundrum, had they not been too preoccupied molesting all the local lads.

tomsview Two things drew me to this film when it appeared recently on TCM. The first was Marilyn Monroe in an early role. The other was because it was based on a play by Clifford Odets.Although Odets was a famous playwright with the Group Theatre in the 1930's, I first became aware of him when he featured in Sam Kashner's brilliant "Vanity Fair" article, "A Movie Marked Danger", the story of the making of "The Sweet Smell of Success" where Kashner gave fascinating insights into the man and his career. I had also read about Odet's affair with Francis Farmer, which helped send her over the edge. From then on, I always looked out for his work and learnt more about him.After a 10-year absence, Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) returns to her hometown, the fishing town of Monterey. She becomes the catalyst for tension between her brother Joe (Keith Anders) and his girlfriend Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). She also becomes the centre of attention of two men, fishing boat skipper Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas) and his friend, Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan).Although he didn't adapt the play for the screen, Odet's ideas and world-view still come through."Clash by Night" takes a while to get into, but the film picks up the pace when the focus turns to Earl's character. Robert Ryan's Earl is an amazing creation. He seems cynical of every human emotion including his own, and is a complex and insidious character. Authors create alter egos in their characters, but if Odets was exorcising demons through Earl, he was a man with issues. After all, when dying of cancer, Odets summed up life thus: "That miserable patch of events, that mélange of nothing, while you were looking ahead for something to happen, that was it! That was life! You lived it!"For the most part, the cast takes the often over-ripe dialogue in their stride. If the film has a fault with casting, it's with some of the racial stereotyping. Hollywood has a lot to answer for in its depiction of Italians, especially when played by non-Italians like J. Carrol Naish. But that is nothing compared to Earl's impersonation of Chinese; it's just plain embarrassing – it receives an appropriate look of disdain from Mae although Paul Douglas' character finds it hilarious. TCM have been quick to cut nude scenes from movies, but maybe that's a scene that is far more offensive.Barbara Stanwyck's low-key style works best in this film; it would have been easy to go overboard with some of the emotion-charged dialogue. Paul Douglas basically plays another variation of himself, and of course, you can't forget Marilyn Monroe. This was before full Marilyn mode, and she is perfect as the pretty girlfriend who is not sure her life is heading in the right direction.Any Fritz Lang film is worth a look, however, the enjoyment of "Clash by Night" is definitely enhanced if you know something about the characters before and behind the camera.

vincentlynch-moonoi I have very mixed feelings about this film. On the positive side, the acting is quite good (more about that shortly). But on the negative side, the director (Fritz Lang) made one mistake that pretty much kills a film for me.What's the big negative? There's not a single character here to like or respect or root for. They're all jerks. You start out with Mae Doyle D'Amato...a woman who can't control her emotions and seems to alienate everyone she is with. Then you have Jerry D'Amato, who's a nice guy, but such a sap...he can't figure out who his friends really are and when a woman is just taking him for a ride. Then you have Earl Pfeiffer, who's just no good, mean spirited, and lusts after anything in a skirt. Peggy is kinda dippy, but she's a relatively minor character, as is Joe Doyle, her boyfriend. Papa D'Amato drinks too much and gets in arguments with everyone. And Uncle Vince likes to set people against each other, and likes porn. Whadda bunch of low-lifes.Despite the lousy characters, the acting here is pretty decent. Barbara Stanwyck is darned good as the restless woman. Paul Douglas. not usually a favorite of mine (although I liked him in "Executive Suite") is very good here as the sap. Robert Ryan...was he good at acting sleazy, or was he sleazy? Marilyn Monroe, who I have little use for, is actually quite pleasant here, albeit in a minor role. Keith Andes as her boyfriend just seemed a bit too angry for no apparent reason. Silvio Minciotti does his job as the papa, and J. Carrol Naish...well, I couldn't figure out if he was petty, or the character was...or both.One critic at the time wrote that Fritz Lang, as a director, never showed much restraint. And I would agree here. A little subtlety here and there would have worked wonders.For the acting, a "7". For the directing, a "5". That's a "6", and for me, that's a below average film.