Somewhere in the Night (1946)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

Howard Dimsdale (screenplay) and
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

12 June 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir

Tagline:

Meet That Guild Gal...She gives as Good as She Gets!

Plot:

George Taylor returns from the WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, he tries to track down his old identity, stumbling into a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million. |

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia | WWII Veteran | Los Angeles California

Cast

John Hodiak	...	George W. Taylor
Nancy Guild	...	Christy Smith
Lloyd Nolan	...	Police Lt. Donald Kendall
Richard Conte	...	Mel Phillips
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Elizabeth Conroy
Fritz Kortner	...	Anzelmo aka Dr. Oracle
Margo Woode	...	Phyllis
Sheldon Leonard	...	Sam
Lou Nova	...	Hubert
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Police detective (uncredited)
Charles Arnt	...	Little man (uncredited)
Richard Benedict	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Whit Bissell	...	John (bartender) (uncredited)
Morris Carnovsky	...	(uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Tom (male nurse at sanitarium) (uncredited)
Jeff Corey	...	Bank teller (uncredited)
Mary Currier	...	Miss Jones (uncredited)
Jack Davis	...	Dr. Grant (uncredited)
Jim Davis	...	(uncredited)
Henri DeSoto	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Sam Flint	...	Bank guard (uncredited)
Maynard Holmes	...	Police stenographer (uncredited)
John Ireland	...	Voice (uncredited)
John Kellogg	...	Medical attendant (uncredited)
Edward Kelly	...	Thug (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Herman (tailor) (uncredited)
Elaine Langan	...	Hat check girl (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Hotel clerk (uncredited)
Louis Mason	...	Brother William (uncredited)
Frank Meredith	...	(uncredited)
Harry Morgan	...	Bath attendant (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	Bank executive (uncredited)
Paula Reid	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Polly Rose	...	Nurse (uncredited)
John Russell	...	Marine captain (uncredited)
Cy Schindell	...	Thug (uncredited)
Al Sparlis	...	Anzelmo henchman (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Nightclub extra (uncredited)
Houseley Stevenson	...	Michael Conroy (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Baggage man (uncredited)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Navy doctor (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writing credits
Howard Dimsdale		(screenplay) and
Joseph L. Mankiewicz		(screenplay)
Lee Strasberg		(adaptation)
Marvin Borowsky		(story)
W. Somerset Maugham		adaptation (uncredited)

Produced by
Anderson Lawler	....	producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
David Buttolph

Cinematography by
Norbert Brodine		(director of photography)

Art Direction by
James Basevi
Maurice Ransford

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Kay Nelson

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
F.E. 'Johnny' Johnston	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Charles L. Smith	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Ernest Lansing	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Eugene Grossman	....	sound
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Editorial Department
James B. Clark	....	editorial supervisor

Music Department
Arthur Morton	....	music arranger: orchestral arrangements
Emil Newman	....	musical director

Other crew
Lee Strasberg	....	dialogue director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (1948) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | USA:Approved (certificate #11434) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

When George Taylor (John Hodiak) signs the guest register at the Martin Hotel, the name directly above it is Howard Koch.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Cast in Steele (#3.9)" (1984)

Hodiak, Conte and a host of Great Supporting Players in a Class-A Film Noir

SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT is not only a pleasure in terms of plot and atmosphere, it is filled with terrific supporting actors: Lloyd Nolan, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell, Sheldon Leonard, Henry Morgan, Fritz Kortner, and the superb, virtually ignored Josephine Hutchinson, who has the emotional center of the film as a lonely victim of the murderous scheme. Some may remember Hutchinson as the android babysitter from The Twilight Zone episode "I Sing the Body Electric". And when are Corey, Bissell, Morgan and Nolan not welcome? Only Nancy Guild fails to equal her surrounding players, but she gets to deliver a few wry observations.

Not much can be said about Richard Conte, without spoiling the plot, but this is another one of the infallible actor's memorable characterizations.

John Hodiak probably never had enough opportunities to play lead in good films. We are fortunate to have here his extremely convincing amnesiac veteran: in a sense, the ultimate existential noir protagonist. A voice credit has been given to John Ireland, but it certainly sounds like Hodiak during the nightmarish opening sequence.

This was the second film Mankiewicz directed, and it's a big improvement over DRAGONWYCK. SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT belongs in the canon of compulsory Film Noir. Go out of your way to see it.