GManfred Sounds like a serious film noir, judging from the title. Wet,dark alleys, trench coats, world-weary private eye, etc. But it's not - "Crime By Night" is a breezy, light-hearted crime story that could have been a series. No telling where Warner Bros. was going with this entertaining B picture, but it could have been better than the main feature it played with.Jerome Cowan is the star as the genial, unflappable private eye and Jane Wyman is his 'girl Friday', even though she has top billing. Can't remember Jerome Cowan as the leading man before. He spent most of his career as a supporting actor, but goes all out here as he solves a murder mystery - and it's a genuine whodunit, which is the yardstick by which all mysteries are measured. If you haven't seen it and you're a mystery movie fan, give it a shot. It's only 75 minutes of your time.

blanche-2 "Crime by Night" is a lively 1944 film starring Jerome Cowan, Jane Wyman and Faye Emerson. Cowan plays a private eye trying to help a man wrongly accused of murder. It ends up being a lot more complicated than originally thought. Jane Wyman is his attractive secretary, and Emerson plays a talent representative. Eleanor Parker has a small role as the daughter of the murder victim.This is an enjoyable B movie that moves fast; Cowan is slick and Wyman looks great and gives a vivacious performance. Cowan was rarely given an opportunity at leads. He makes the most of this one. A good B movie made during World War II.

ultfan67 Crime By Night is a film that I discovered on TCM a couple of years ago. Although Jane Wyman receives top billing, Jerome Cowan (the ill fated Miles Archer from The Maltese Falcon) carries the film. As another poster commented, the film has some great dialogue. In addition to his interplay with Jane Wyman's character (Robbie, aka Candy Lamb), I really enjoyed Cowan's (private eye Sam Campbell) scenes with Cy Kendall. Kendall plays the sheriff, who's a bit on the shady side. I especially like the scene when the sheriff leaves Sam alone in the sheriff's office to ostensibly get a drinking glass and what happens immediately after that. Also funny was Sam's revenge later in the film towards the sheriff regarding the drinking glass incident. All in all, an excellent B film...check it out if you can.

CitizenCaine For a fifteen year period between the late 1930's and the early 1950's, Jerome Cowan played supporting roles to a number of big name stars in a variety of movies. Here he gets a chance to be the lead in this snappy little B picture, playing a detective on vacation. He was notable for playing wisecracking sidekicks, and in Crime By Night he plays a wisecracking detective. His sidekick is Jane Wyman who is actually listed as the lead here, but she plays second fiddle as Cowan's "candy lamb." Faye Emerson is on hand in a supporting role, and Eleanor Parker has a small role in one of her early films. The pace is fast with snappy dialog written by Daniel Mainwaring, who a few years later became famous for the quintessential film noir: Out Of The Past, which was based on his novel Build My Gallows High. **1/2 of 4 stars.