Clash by Night
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Movie Reviews of Clash by Night
Movie Review: Satisfying Stanwyck flick
Summary: 5 Stars
OK, it's basically a soap opera set in a California cannery town, and if lesser actors were in it, it wouldn't be worth recommending. But Barbara Stanwyck and Paul Douglas are just so good as Mae Doyle, the returning local girl who didn't quite succeed, and Joe, her lonely former schoolmate, a local mensch fisherman who never left town and never quite forgot her.
Nothing really deep here. Just get into your jammies, open a box of bonbons, and
settle back happily to see Stanwyck, Douglas, Ryan and Monroe do their stuff.
Movie Review: At long last available to the public
Summary: 5 Stars
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, as I never seen it before. Marilyn stars as a factory worker in a fishing village. Her appearance is really sparkling and definitely holds up next to her later work. The story line leaves enough room for all of the actors to stand out. The quality of the material is unexpected fine. As I live in Europe, I regret there are only subtitles in English, French and Spanish, but that didn't keep me from enjoying this movie (and surely won't keep me from seeing it again, and again...).Movie Review: CLASH BY NIGHT
Summary: 5 Stars
THIS IS ONE OF BARBARA STANWYCK'S BEST MOVIES..ALL INVOLVED DID SOME OF THE BEST ACTING OF THEIR CAREERS.ROBERT RYAN WAS ALWAYS GREAT AND DITTO FOR BOTH PAUL DOUGLAS AND MARILYN MONROE. EXCELLENT STORY WITH FINE ACTINGMovie Review: A tense gritty melodrama
Summary: 4 Stars
"Clash By Night" is a movie from the "film noir" genre that appears to have been written for Barbara Stanwyck to play the lead. We're lucky that the studio system of the 50's didn't have the same standards as today - casting actresses aside as "too old" as soon as they appear old enough to legally drink. Such a standard would have deprived us of some of the finest performances of Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and of course, Barbara Stanwyck, this being one of her finest but less known performances. For that matter, the casting of the entire picture is just perfect.
Ms. Stanwyck plays Mae, a woman who left her home town of Monterrey ten years earlier in search of love and adventure, fell in love with a married man who died on her, and was cast aside by the man's legitimate family and friends. Thus she returns home hardened and cynical, with a less than warm welcome from her long lost brother, Joe. Jerry, played by Paul Douglas, is a fisherman, large both in body and in heart, who falls in love with Mae, but seems somewhat emotionally needy. Mae reluctantly decides to marry him because she is seeking stability. After a year or so of marriage and the birth of a daughter, Mae realizes she feels trapped in her dull routine of a marriage. The love that gives the daily routine of life meaning to most people is just not there for her, although Jerry adores her. Earl, played by Robert Ryan, is Jerry's "friend" and is also a kindred spirit of Mae's. He, too, has been kicked around in life and has developed a hard and cynical outlook. He has everything that Jerry lacks, but seems to lack everything that Jerry has, starting with decency and a strong work ethic. Mae realizes that Earl is bad for her, but ultimately loses her fight in being attracted to him. The fact that Mae is his best friend's wife doesn't stop Earl from seducing Mae in Jerry's own home, and then carrying on a clandestine affair with Mae for months, until clueless Jerry is alerted to the situation by his nimrod uncle.
Confronted by her husband, Mae must choose between the two men, and probably most definitely would have chosen Earl over Jerry if it had not been for her daughter. This is the most forced part of the plot development. We don't just see Mae deciding to stay with Jerry because of her daughter. Instead, she seems to have a complete about face in attitude that comes out of nowhere. The film would have us believe that the change came from hearing her own callous attitudes coming from the lips of her lover, but then she's probably been hearing these kinds of words from him for the last several months that they have been carrying on their affair, so this epiphany does not make a lot of sense.
Some parts of this movie are timeless - love and security versus passion and danger, dealing with the consequences of one's actions, and how life's inevitable disappointments make some people hard and cynical. However, some are dated - the most prominent example being Mae's brother Joe and his relationship with his fiancee, Peggy, played by a young Marilyn Monroe. Joe might have appeared as a man who was taking charge of his situation in his rough treatment of Peggy in 1952, but over 50 years later he comes across as a wife batterer in the making.
This movie is probably best classified as a film noir epic, although that term usually refers to crime dramas that set their protagonists in a world perceived as inherently corrupt and unsympathetic. Although that definitey fits the view of the world offered here, this is a psychological melodrama rather than a crime drama. However, the movie does have the low-key black-and-white visual style that is typical of the film noir genre. I recommend the movie, but as another reviewer already remarked, you might get a better total value buying one of the boxed sets that includes this film.
Movie Review: Fritz Lang Brings Documentary Realism to Clifford Odets.
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Fritz Lang opens "Clash by Night" with a violent crashing of waves that sets the audience on edge and foreshadows the inner turbulence of the film's protagonist, Mae Doyle. This is followed by an extended documentary sequence that was filmed on location in Monterey, California, illustrating the daily routine in the fishing town. Boats come in with their catch; their crews unload the fish; and the cannery processes them. It's a memorable sequence, and I was surprised to find it in this relationship drama. Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) has returned to town after a 10-year absence that left her disillusioned with life, love and the plans she had. Her brother Joe (Keith Anders) works on a fishing boat owned by Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas), a cheerful, simple-minded man who is smitten with Mae. Joe's good friend Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan) couldn't be more different. He's misogynistic, lecherous, and deeply needy. Mae is attracted and repulsed by the cynicism that she sees in Earl and shares with him. She'd like a man like Jerry to take care of her, but knows she could never be satisfied with that.
"Clash by Night" is based on the play by Clifford Odets, and it's fun to try to pick out the lines that sound like Odets by their affectedness. Usually the actors deliver the lines casually, so they don't sound too histrionic. I found that the film's strength is its documentary-like qualities, which don't end after the introductory sequence. The vignettes of working class life and conversations about family matters lend the film an authenticity that it really needs considering that Barbara Stanwyck' s glamour and forcefulness seem as out of place in that town as her character professes to feel. Robert Ryan was a terrific character actor who could just as easily be sympathetic or loathsome, and he's convincingly obnoxious here. It's not clear if Earl is suffering from feelings of inferiority or superiority, but he's an overbearing, moody, insufferable jerk. "Clash by Night" was the first film in which Marilyn Monroe had billing above the title. She's beautiful and youthful as Joe's feisty girlfriend Peggy, even if she had trouble with her lines, as Fritz Lang claimed. "Clash by Night" is a bit of melodrama, I suppose, in which people's needs and desires clash with life's realities. But strong performances and a realistic environment make it an interesting film.
The DVD (Warner Brothers 2005): There is an occasional flaw, but this is generally a good print. Bonus features are a theatrical trailer (2 ½ minutes) and an audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich and Fritz Lang. Most of the commentary is Bogdanovich. Occasional brief contributions from Lang were recorded by Peter Bogdanovich in 1965 when he was interviewing Lang for his book "Fritz Lang in America". It's a good commentary in which Bogdanovich provides scene-by-scene comments on the actors, characters, dialogue, filming anecdotes, and, of particular interest to me, analysis of some of the longer shots and cuts. Subtitles for the film are available in English, Spanish, and French.