Spikeopath Somewhere in the Night is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also co- adapts the screenplay with Howard Dimsdale from a story by Marvin Browsky. It stars John Hodiak, Nancy Guild, Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Josephine Hutchinson and Fritz Kortner. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Norbert Brodine. George Taylor (Hodiak) returns from the war suffering from amnesia and trying to track down his identity by following a trail started by a mysterious man named Larry Cravat. Pretty soon George finds himself thrust into a murder mystery where nothing is ever as it seems. The amnesia sufferer is not in short supply in film noir, neither is the returning from the war veteran, but Somewhere in the Night may just be one of the most under appreciated to use these central themes. Amongst film noir writers it has a very mixed reputation, yet the trajectory it follows is quintessential film noir stuff. George Taylor (Hodiak assured and rightly playing it as low-key confusion) is very much at the mercy of others, thus he finds himself wandering blindly into a labyrinthine murder mystery. His journey will see him get a beating (no matter he is one tough boy), pulled from one suspicious location to the next and introduce him to dames, a stoic copper, a shifty fortune teller and a "too good to be true?" club owner. The screenplay is deliberately convoluted, making paying attention essential, and the script blends tongue in cheek nonchalance with spicy oral stings. The locations Taylor visits are suitably atmospheric, even macabre at times, which allows Mankiewicz and Brodine (Boomerang/Kiss of Death) to open up some noir visuals. Dr. Oracles's Crystal Ball parlour really kicks things off, fronted by Anzelmo (Kortner deliciously shady), it's a room adorned by face masks on the walls and lit eerily by the glow of a crystal ball. Then there's Lambeth Sanitorium, with low-lighted corridors, many doors that hide mentally troubled patients and the shadow inducing stairs. And finally the docks, with dark corners down by the lapping silver water, a solitary bar at the front, smoky and barely rising above dive status. These all form atmospheric backdrops to enhance the suspicion and confusion of the protagonist. Nancy Guild (apparently pronounced as Guyled) didn't have much of a career, and much of the criticism for the acting in the film landed at her door, but unfairly so. It's true that she's more friendly side-kick than sultry femme fatale, but she has a good delivery style that compliments the doubling up with Hodiak. She's pretty as well, a sort of Bacall/Tierney cross that's most appealing. Elsewhere Conte and Nolan offer up the expected enjoyable noirish performances while a host of noir icons flit in and out of the story, making it fun to see who will pop up next? There is undeniably daft coincidences and credulity stretching moments within the plotting, and in true Mankiewicz style the film is often very talky, but it's never dull and quite often surprising, even having a trick up its sleeve in the finale. Great stuff. 8/10

mark.waltz A film noir does not have to be totally realistic to become a classic; All it needs are the elements that make film noir the gritty and riveting thrillers they are. This plot surrounds amnesia, money laundering, and mistaken identities. George Taylor (John Hodiak) is an amnesiac veteran who finds a letter from a friend he doesn't remember named Larry Kravat for a bank account in Los Angeles. When he goes to the bank, he becomes nervous over the suspicious nature of the bank teller and flees. Mysterious encounters with several others makes him wonder about his own identity and who the mysterious Kravat really is. With the help of a kindly nightclub singer (Nancy Guild), he sets out to solve the mystery. What he finds he may not like.In a year of such classic film noir as "The Big Sleep", "Gilda", "Decoy", "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers", "The Killers" and "The Blue Dahlia", "Somewhere in the Night" has been somewhat overlooked until recently. It has a somewhat convoluted plot line, and its structure moves all over the place like the roads in the mountains above Los Angeles. Characters come in and out of the script like bees out of a hive. Who is good and who is bad will have to be waited out until the ending revelation, but this isn't the L.A. of movie studios and sunny days at the beach. Sure, Taylor ends up at the beach, but it is to go into the bowels of an old wooden dock, not to catch rays between Santa Monica and Venice. Film noir vets like Richard Conte and Lloyd Nolan add color, while Margo Woode is an interesting supporting "femme fatale". ("Whose the character with the hair?", she squawks upon meeting Guild....) Guild does have an interesting look, sort of like a younger Kate Mulgrew. Veteran 30's leading lady Josephine Hutchinson is memorable in one key scene as a seemingly middle aged recluse who dresses and lives like Whistler's Mother. Look too for Harry Morgan as a rough character Hodiak encounters while investigating.This was only the third film for director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and he already shows signs of being a master story teller. With truly dark photography, a moody hero, a Lauren Bacall like heroine and other archetypes that make for essential film noir, this is worthy of becoming a small classic. I would like to have seen more films of this nature with Nancy Guild; She had the ability to make you trust her in spite of her involvements of unsavory characters, but appears to have had a very limited acting career.

edwagreen This is such a lousy film that putting it in the tradition of the 1940's film noir is an insult to that film genre.Total confusion reigns here as John Hodiak plays an injured war vet in the throws of amnesia. How he could fool a hospital that he didn't have this tells you a lot about hospital care as well as this very muddled film.Finding items in his wallet, money deposited for him along the way, suspicion that he is a killer, becoming mixed up with seedy people and finally finding out who he is has no value in this plodding film.Richard Conte, as the owner of the bar, is up to his usual no good ways in films. That's Conte and that comes as no surprise. Lloyd Nolan explains to us why the police always wear their hats. Isn't that wonderful? By the time, you hear that, you're more than satisfied that this miserably scripted film is over.

Michael O'Keefe John Hodiak stars in this piece of Film-Noir. George Taylor(Hodiak)is a bitter WWII veteran Marine with amnesia. He returns to Los Angeles with hopes of rediscovering his identity. He has only two clues linked to his past: a vicious letter of woe from a woman that hates him and another mysterious note from a "Larry Cravat". George in search of Cravat becomes involved with a winsome lounge singer(Nancy Guild)and her boss(Richard Conte). Police investigator Kendall(Lloyd Nolan)informs the three that Cravat is wanted for murder and the robbery of two million dollars. But what is Taylor's connection? For all he knows, since thugs are chasing him...hell, he himself may be the mysterious Cravat.Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz co-writes the screenplay with Howard Dinsdale. Hodiak is a passive leading man, while the attractive Guild almost steals the movie from him. Nolan plays the copper with a dry humor. Also in the cast: Sheldon Leonard, Fritz Kortner and Lou Nova.