Ehirerapp Waste of time

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Micitype Pretty Good

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

dougdoepke There are some nice touches in this noir if you can get past Raft's non-acting. For a cop obsessed by a murder, he really needs more than one frozen expression. It doesn't help that the script sticks this 50-year old man with a 60-year old mother (Paige), even if she can wisecrack with the best of them. She's a hoot, but he still looks more like a brother than a son.That opening sequence, however, is masterful and a testament to RKO's artistic team. A night-time camera swoops down from high above the Hollywood hills into a swank, ultra- modern glass house where a handsomely attired man noodles on a piano while a mystery woman sits in the shadows-- and the plot sets up from there. It's done in a single take and is quite riveting.So who did kill the noodler (Ashley). Maybe it was his bad piano playing. More likely it's one of a hundred women who've visited that swank bachelor pad. Anyway, detective Warne (Raft), after viewing the glamour photos on the wall, is obsessed with finding out. His sleuthing takes us on a entertaining tour of LA area hotspots, circa 1946, including a ship that never sails. The attraction really isn't in the whodunit, which proves difficult, anyway. It's in the characters and the settings and some nice touches. There's the brassy blonde "housekeeper" (Dell) who assures us she sleeps alone, the fashion photographer who can't stand his model, the hulking gorilla (Hoffman) who KO's Warne amusingly off-camera. Most of all, there's Mom who may make you rethink nice old ladies. Then too, I like Joe Pevney as the moody, laconic "Fingers"; his smokey joe seems just right. All in all, it's an interesting, if uneven, movie with some good dialogue, but with a wrap-up that sounds like it was thrown together on the way to the studio.

ikanboy This little "film noir" seems to have it's mind on witty dialog rather than sensible plot line. George Raft plays a junior partner Detective who sees murder when his partner lazily sees suicide. He pursues the case, because it haunts him, but are never told why. He focuses in on one woman, who, as in most of these kinds of movie, is meant to make us wonder whether she's evil or innocent. Of course he falls for her, but being Dudley Do Right, the "case must be solved." SPOILER. Plot problems. For example our intrepid Det. manages to track down 9 women in 2 days, with only a photograph and no first or last names! The answer is revealed later in the movie but in the wrong time line: He finds the women, then we see him finding the photographer's studio name on the photograph. We keep being told that the method of making the murder look like suicide is "mysterious" when any kid could figure an obvious way immediately (shoot the guy close up and wrap his fingers around gun). The method when it is revealed is interesting but as another obvious way is already there it doesn't come as a "aha!" moment.When an obvious suspect is revealed by her facial expression when the "Nocturne" is played, the audience sees it right away but our dufus Det. doesn't. So now the audience knows and watches dufus wander around looking for the wrong suspect. Was this deliberate?A main character is a big hulk that follows Raft around for most of the day, and it takes that long for Raft to see him, when the audience has him pegged right away. It is never explained why he does what he does, other than that he is a sidekick to the eventually revealed killer. SPOILER ENDRaft is his usual wooden self, and he has a nice way with lines. He lives with his mother in an interesting side story that could have been used to tell us more about why Raft's character is so close to the edge.

krorie This neat little noir thriller is a rare find. The dialog is witty and clever. The acting, mainly by a second-line cast, is better than in many bigger budget movies. I was especially impressed by Myrna Dell's performance. Plus she had some of the best lines in the flick, i.e., "He was a lady killer. But don't get any ideas. I ain't no lady." Another line, "Who ever heard of a detective wearing a hat," is uttered by a dance hostess instructing Dt. Joe Warner (George Raft) who is trying to squeeze information out of her about the suicide (the audience knows it is murder)of composer Keith Vincent (Edward Ashley). Such witticisms are scattered throughout the film.Many critics rate George Raft's performance in "Nocturne" as poor at best. But actually he plays the part fairly well as the director, producer, and writers intended for Joe Warner to be. He is a mama's boy (40's and still living with mom). He is definitely a Hitchcockian lead character - producer Joan Harrison comes in to play here. Hitchcock would take this image to its utmost realization with Norman Bates. As critics have pointed out in other IMDb reviews Joe Warner's mom (Mabel Paige) has some of the best scenes in the movie. Since he is living at home and obviously supported by his mother, Joe can afford to indulge in going his own way. He does not have a family to support. One reason he is so interested in the case is his love for music. He and his mom both play piano. In one scene he talks about spending much of his spare time attending the opera. So music and murder intertwine. "Nocturne" is appropriate as a title, not only because it is the name of the murdered's composer last composition which he had not quite finished when shot to death, but nocturne also connotes L.A. nightlife where much of the action in the film takes place. Nocturne can also be used to describe the tangled minds of many of the frequenters of the clubs and hang-outs in the film.Some critics have mentioned that no answer is given as to why the womanizing murdered composer called all his girlfriends Delores. The writers were attempting to point out that like most womanizers, Keith Vincent was only interested in women as sex objects. A woman had no existence in his mind beyond her genitalia. He wanted sexual conquest, not commitment or any kind of romantic relationship. So to him all women had the same name. Why he chose Delores is left to the viewer to decide. Again, the influence of Joan Harrison manifests itself. Hitchcock left much to the viewer's imagination. How did James Stewart get off the roof from which he was dangling in "Vertigo?" If you have not seen "Nocturne," you are in for a treat, one of the lost treasures of the 1940's.

charles shoemake Nocturne is certainly not in the 1st rank of 40's film noir movies but nevertheless has a few things going for it.....the photography, some funny lines ("one more crack like that and I'll wrap the piano around your neck"), and for me, Lynn Bari. I always thought she was ( like Hillary Brooke, Lenore Aubert, Brenda Joyce, and a few others of the 40's) an underrated, very beautiful and sophisticated actress ( of a type that no longer exists in films). Of course no-one is going to confuse George Raft with Lawrence Olivier but the rest of the cast, particularly Joe Pevney (also good in "Body and Soul") does a professional job.and makes the film worthwhile.