Review of Clash by Night (1952) by Charlie J — 05 Jun 2007

[b][u]Clash By Night (1952)[/u] [/b].

[b]Director:[/b] [u][color=#0000FF]Fritz Lang [/color][/u].

[b]Writers:[/b] [color=#0000FF][u]Clifford Odets[/u][/color](play).

[color=#0000FF][u]Alfred Hayes[/u][/color](screenplay).

[b]Starring:[/b] [color=#0000FF][u]Barbara Stanwyck [/u][/color]as Mae Doyle D'Amato.

[color=#0000FF][u]Paul Douglas [/u][/color]as Jerry D'Amato.

[color=#0000FF][u]Robert Ryan [/u][/color]as Earl Pfeiffer.

[color=#0000FF][u]Marilyn Monroe [/u][/color]as Peggy.

[color=#0000FF][u]J. Carrol Naish [/u][/color]as Uncle Vince.

[color=#0000FF][u]Keith Andes [/u][/color]as Joe Doyle.

[color=#0000FF][u]Silvio Minciotti [/u][/color]as Papa D'Amato.

[i]Rose, he knows he's such a credit to the game.

But the Yankees grab the headlines every time.

[b]Melodrama's so much fun.

In black and white for everyone to see [/b].

Me, I'm trying just to get to second base.

And I'd steal it if she only gave the sign.

She's gonna give the go ahead.

The inning isn't over yet for me [/i] - Billy Joel from the song Zanzibar album 52nd Street.

I apologize for the extremely dated music reference (you baseball fans may get a chuckle from the Rose reference) but this song kept ringing in my head while watching this movie. Many including Imdb have this listed under film noir but it is pure melodrama for me, along the lines of something you might have seen on a night time soap opera , although not as comtemporary obviously. The cast is star studded and includes legend [color=#0000FF][u]Barbara Stanwyck[/u][/color], noir veteran tough guy [color=#0000FF][u]Robert Ryan[/u][/color], the dependable [u][color=#0000FF]Paul Douglas [/color][/u]and [color=#0000FF][u]Marilyn Monroe [/u][/color]in an early role amongst others.

[color=#0000FF][u]Clash by Night [/u][/color]is based on a play by Clifford Odets , one of the charter members of the group theatre from back in the 30's who are famous for developing the "method" style of acting. Lee Strasburg is likely the most famous name associated with this group, but Odets was a proflic playwright whose career was severly curtailed by the Blacklist. The Group Theatre is important to film history as "the Method" style of acting has given us Brando, Clift and countless others with their intense performances.

The play Clash by Night was written in 1941 but not adapted for the screen until the early 50's. I have no idea how much the adapter strayed from Odets original work , so I will choose to place my analysis in a post WW2 context as this is eyes that the audience used to view the film.

America in the 50's was in its glory, the war had been won, the economy was booming, it was a "Happy Days" world. But, there were emotional storm clouds brewing beneath the surface. It is this emotional turblence with which the film deals.

Mae Doyle (Stanwyck) returns to her home town bitter and far from the success she'd thought she'd be. She returns to the house of her brother Joe (Andes), who is happy to get his "one ups".

[b]Joe[/b]: [i]Where's it parked?[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]What?[/i].

[b]Joe:[/b] [i]The car with the chaffeur and the rich husband[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b][i]There isn't any car, there isn't any husband, rich, poor or indifferent[/i].

[b]Joe:[/b] [i]Isn't that what you left town for?[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]I left town because.... I left town... What do you want Joe, my life story? Here it is in 4 words... big ideas.. small results....................... Home is where you come when you run out of places[/i].

Back at home , Mae meets two men .. and her emotional ping pong between these two is the story of the movie. Mae is torn between solid but unexciting Jerry, a local fisherman and Earl, an unhappy married but dangerous and exciting guy.. Earl is in the movie business (LOL he runs the projector at the Bijou theatre in town). Mae is torn between the loveless stablity of Jerry and possible love with Earl.. She is dating Jerry but drawn to and at the same time repulsed by Earl's earthiness..

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]You don't like women , do you?[/i].

[b]Earl:[/b] [i]Take any 6 of them, my wife included.. throw them up in the air and the one who sticks to the ceiling I like[/i].

Jerry wants Mae to be his wife but Mae isnt sure...

[b]Jerry[/b]: [i]I like you... you know that[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]You dont know anything about me... What kind of animal am I? Do I have fangs? Do I purr?..What jungle am I from? You dont know a thing about me.[/i].

[b]Jerry:[/b] [i]That aint important[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]People have funny things stirring around inside of them. Dont you ever wonder what they are?[/i].

We find out over time that part of Mae's bitterness is due to a relationship that just ended, with a married man who gave her everything but marriage and he even left her money when he died , but his family would not let her have it, thus her need to return to town.

[b]Mae:[/b][i]One thing I knew he was a man who didn't tear a woman down, he made her feel confident.[/i].

[b]Earl[/b]: [i]Confident?[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]Sure of herself, more than she was, not less. He's the only man I ever knew that gave me that feeling[/i].

[b]Earl:[/b] [i]Which makes me what?[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]A sparrow in a trap[/i].

[b]Earl[/b]: [i]I never had any complaints[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]You're crude Earl[/i].

[b]Earl:[/b] [i]I never claimed to polish..[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]Last time I looked you had a wife[/i].

[b]Earl:[/b] [i]Next time you look, I may not... What do you really think of me?[/i].

[b]Mae[/b]: [i]You strike me as a man who needs a new suit of clothes or a new love affair but he doesnt know which[/i].

Mae, after putting up her disclaimers about how bad she'd be for Jerry , relents and marries him. Earl takes it hard and divorces his wife and heads for the bottle even harder than before. Mae tries her best and makes it work for a year, even bearing Jerry's child a daugther Gloria. But the lure of Earl is just too strong...

Mae breaks it off with Jerry and is set to run away with Earl.. she finally relays her frustrations to Jerry after he finds out about Mae and Earl's affair..

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]You say to yourself, wait be patient, things will change, you'll feel different.. No good , nothing changes. The days go by, down to the grocery store, back to the house, hang out the wash, take the dishes out of the closet. Go to bed, wake up.. wait wait wait... Shut your mouth, close your eyes. this is the man you married.. This is the life you've made. Expect nothing. hope for nothing. And every day, a little older, a little duller and a little stupider[/i].

Jerry goes ballistic and goes to strike Earl with the alarm clock he's been holding and it goes off, showing that time has seemingly run out for Mae and Jerry.

[b]Jerry:[/b] [i]What are you ? Animals? In a zoo, they keep them in a cage. They keep them apart they keep them from hurting people. they ... they....[/i].

Mae packs her bag and says goodbye to Peg and Joe. Joe, afraid that Peg (Monroe) will get similar ideas expresses his disapproval:

[b]Joe:[/b] [i]The world, it aint big enough, Your life it aint interesting enough. thats the way she thinks... (to Peg) Listen to me Blondie, The woman I marry she aint gonna take me on a wait and see basis. I aint a dress she's brought home from the store to see if it fits and if not.. back it goes.. In my book, marriage is a 2 way proposition[/i].

Jerry hunts down Earl in the screening room and almost strangles him to death. He is only stopped by the arrival of Mae and when she tries to stop him, he pushes her away and hurts her a bit and Jerry realizes he cant hurt her and skulks away..

Mae has 2nd thoughts especially when Earl is so ready to leave Mae's child behind... She realizes her selfishness.

[b]Mae:[/b] How many times have I told myself, that nothing counted but me, my disappointment, my unhappiness.. I married Jerry , moved into his house, used his money and had his child and yet I never was his wife. You're someone's when you belong to them. I never belonged to anybody.. I never belonged to anybody.

[b]Earl:[/b] [i]What about me? dont you love me?[/i].

[b]Mae:[/b] [i]Love? I don't know what the word means.. love when we're lonely.. love because we're frightened.. love because we're bored[/i].

The movie ends with Mae going back to Jerry and Jerry accepting her because you "have to trust somebody".

This is not amongst the top of Lang's work but still has a lot to say. After WW2 , people had had lots of excitement and were now settling down into domestic bliss and seemingly had it all... The house , the picket fence, the kids, the car in the garage, but many were likely wondering... "is this all there is?" They wanted more.. Women had grown accustomed to the working world and its excitement whilest the men were overseas and likely had trouble settling into the homemaker "Mrs Cleaver" role.. Stanwyck shines as you can see many of the quotes ive given are from Mae... that lady could play any part but she was best as these hard bitten tough women struggling to maintain control.. And for sure, its is she that has the control here, she is the emotional fulcrum around which this movie and its turbulence spins.. This movie strikes me as a struggle between types of needs.. the need for stablity and a solid home. symbolized by Jerry and the sense of adventure.. love , romance and excitement promised by Earl.. the struggle between wants and needs .. between long lasting stability and contentment and raw animal passion.. Lang uses many references to animals and the constant shots of storm clouds and pounding surf to emphasize this emotional tumult.

Douglas is solid as the loveable sap devoted to Mae. Ryan is good in the snarky tough guy dialogue but his romantic scenes with Mae seem awkward and stilted.. Also, the fight scene with Jerry in the film room didnt work for me, very stagey and found it hard to see Ryan , the tough guy of noir fame taken down by "teddy bear " Jerry>.. The other characters, Jerry's uncle and father and Monroe as a tough cannery worker do ok. Monroe has a few decent lines but is a minor character. The word is that as with many of her flics many retakes were needed as she had trouble remembering lines. Additionally, some scandolous photos of her ( I think that would end up in Playboy) had just hit the streets during filming and the media converged on the set causing a big distraction.

A decent movie certainly not noir... kind of soap opera-esque with some good dialogue and some over the top scenes. Worth a look especially for Stanwyck devotees which I am becoming more of one by the day..

Ok the DVD player is off and the popcorn is gone:) till next time.