Somewhere in the Night (film)

The film tells the tale of a man called George Taylor (John Hodiak), who returns home to the U.S. from fighting in World War II. He is suffering from amnesia, having been badly injured by a grenade. Among his personal items is a letter, cursing him for some unknown wrong he committed against the letter writer. He chooses not to admit to his lack of knowledge, concerned he will hate himself.

Demobilized into Los Angeles, he retrieves his duty bag, in which is a letter advising him that an account has been opened in his name in a local bank, with a considerable sum, by "Your friend, Larry Cravat." The bank tells him to wait, while they make a phone call, when he asks to withdraw funds.

The bathhouse with the stationery used by Larry Cravat has never heard of him, but the worker suggests he try asking at a bar around the corner. When he does that, the bartender tells two muscular men about his inquiry about Cravat, and they begin to pursue him.

Fleeing them, he stumbles into the dressing room of the singer Christy Smith (Nancy Guild), who leaves the room to fetch the nightclub bouncer.

Once alone in the room, Taylor finds that a friend has written a postcard to Christy, announcing her impending marriage to Larry Cravat. He leaves by the window.

Back at his hotel, he is accosted by a streetwalker, Phyllis (Margo Woode), whose attentions he declines. A phone call from the bartender at the nightclub informs him that Larry Cravat is known; but when he arrives, he is seized by a gangster (Fritz Kortner) who has him beaten for hours, asking him to divulge where Larry Cravat might be.

Because the postcard in his pocket has Christy Smith's address, the thugs drop him at her apartment. She cares for him, and invites Mel Phillips (Richard Conte), the proprietor of the bar, to interview Taylor. Phillips arranges his police friend (Lloyd Nolan) to explain to Taylor and Christy, as well as himself, why Larry Cravat is so notorious. It is a murder mystery involving Nazi loot.

Hodiak and Guild

• John Hodiak as George W. Taylor
• Nancy Guild as Christy Smith
• Lloyd Nolan as Police Lt. Donald Kendall
• Richard Conte as Mel Phillips
• Josephine Hutchinson as Elizabeth Conroy
• Fritz Kortner as Anzelmo aka Dr. Oracle
• Margo Woode as Phyllis
• Sheldon Leonard as Sam
• Lou Nova as Hubert
• Whit Bissel as bartender not credited

20th Century Fox purchased Marvin Borowsky's original, unpublished story "The Lonely Journey" and his accompanying screenplay in December 1944 for $11,000. Somewhere in the Night was Nancy Guild's first film. Production Dates: 21 Nov 1945–24 Jan 1946.[2]

A radio version of the film, starring John Hodiak and Lynn Bari, was broadcast on Lux Radio Theatre on March 3, 1947.

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When the film was first released, film critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a negative review, writing "Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Josephine Hutchinson and several others are competent as varied pawns. Their performances are interesting; it's only too bad that they have such turbid and inconclusive things to do. After a while, the mad confusion of the story inspires a complete apathy."[3]

More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz praised the film, writing "A dark moody noir tale about a marine who gets blown up by a grenade in the South Pacific during a skirmish in WW-II and survives, only to become an amnesia victim...Mankiewicz does a nice job of creating the dark noir mood. The film is spiced up with comedy, excellent performances, plenty of suspense, plus a tense voice-over by John Ireland, and it manages to keep the pot boiling with a quintessential amnesiac story."[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somewhere in the Night (film).

• Somewhere in the Night at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Somewhere in the Night at IMDb
• Somewhere in the Night at AllMovie
• Somewhere in the Night at the TCM Movie Database
• Somewhere in the Night at Rotten Tomatoes
• Somewhere in the Night information site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images)
• Somewhere in the Night film trailer on YouTube