atlasmb The Long Night is a classic noir story of a man and a woman, and the other man who comes between them. The title comes from the fact that Joe Adams (Henry Fonda), our protagonist, is holed up high in an apartment building while the police in the town square below try to flush him out. Most of the action takes place as flashbacks.Joe seems to live on the edge of society. He meets Jo Ann (Barbara Bel Geddes), a young inexperienced woman who is also a misfit. In her way, she lives on another edge of society. Their relationship becomes complicated by the presence of a mysterious older man, Maximillian the Great (Vincent Price), who has dazzled her with his charms and his knowledge of a larger world.We find that Maximillian is a selfish, conniving liar whose intentions are never honorable. But he is somewhat intelligent and seems to understand the psychology of others. As a result, he gets away with a lot. But it is only a matter of time before Joe and Maximillian must come into conflict.Like all noir films, The Long Night is largely filmed in shadows. This is done very stylishly. The mood is also heightened by some crafty camera work and the fantastic score. Note how near the end of the film Jo Ann must operate in the shadows, entering the world of the men.To tell any more of the story would ruin it. I will just add that I found the performances of Fonda, Price and Bel Geddes to be among their best. Price, in particular, has an air of smarmy evilness that makes this film more than it otherwise would have been.

MartinHafer I don't like remakes--and that is why I waited so long to watch "The Long Night". Originally it was a dandy French film ("Le Jour Se Leve") and I saw no reason to redo the film, as the original was quite good. And, after seeing it, I stick by my original opinion--there just wasn't a need to make this remake. However, I can understand why they made it, as folks in the States back in the 1940s did not watch foreign films--and when they saw this American version, it did seem original. But now with DVDs, Turner Classic Movies and Netflix, you should just stick with "Le Jour Se Leve".The film is a talky picture about a brooding guy (Henry Fonda), his sweetie-pie (Barbara Bel Geddes) and a completely bizarre blabber-mouth (Vincent Price). Fonda and Bel Geddes are in love but Price is determined to break them up--and push Fonda to the breaking point. The story is told through flashbacks and is similar to the Jean Gabin film--without the film noir camera-work and lighting. Also, the American version comes off as much talkier--much. All in all, not a terrible film at all--but not the 9 that the other film deserved when I rated it a couple years ago.

edwagreen Eerie film showcasing an excellent chain-smoking Henry Fonda as a distraught lover who kills the eerie mad-like magician,Vincent Price, who discovers his girl-friend, Barbara Bel Geddes and begins to stalk here.The acting here is good especially by Fonda, who wears the same hat and acts in a similar fashion as he did in "The Grapes of Wrath." He is essentially a beaten down character, at war with society who vacillates between pessimism and optimism.Bel Geddes is outstanding especially in the latter part of the film. Her justification for living would ever serve as an inspiration to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.Ann Dvorak, as the mysterious Charlene, is also quite good. The film is really uneven as it doesn't explain why the Fonda character becomes involved with Charlene, Price's assistant in his magic.

sol ***SPOILERS*** The movie "The Long Night" starts with nightclub magician Maximilian, Vincent Price, getting blasted as he falls down two fights of stairs right in front of blinded US Marine vet Frank Dunlap, Elisha Cook Jr. As it turns out Maximilian got blown away by Joe Adams, Henry Fonda, whom he paid a visit in his one room apartment at the Travelers Hotel.As the police surround the hotel and try to take Joe Adams into custody we get this long flashback in what happened that lead up to Maximilian getting rubbed out. We see in retrospect that Joe was involved romantically with flower girl Jo Ann, Barbara Del Grebbs, whom he met, delivering flowers, in the power plant that he works at as a sandblaster. As it turned out both Joe and Jo Ann were orphans and spent their formative years at the local Good Shepard Orphanage.As things started heating up for the two lovebirds, Joe & Jo Ann, Maximilian suddenly dropped in-at the local nightclub "The Jungle"- and started to make a play for the very shy and sensitive Jo Ann. This lead Joe, in feeling that Jo Ann was two timing him, to get involved with Maximilian's former sidekick and assistant in his magic act Charlene, Ann Dvorak. Being the sensitive type himself, like Jo Ann, in not knowing whom his birth parents really are Joe in later having a mournful Maximilian confront him at a local diner is shocked to find out that Jo Ann is actually his, Maximilian's, daughter whom he abandoned at birth! The movie then goes from one flashback to another, and at one point even having a flashback within a flashback, where we and Joe find out what a first class BS artist Maximilian really is.It soon becomes evident that Maximilian is putting on an act to both confuse Joe and get into Jo Ann, who's as much his daughter as Joe is his son, pants! It's when Jo Ann tries to break off her relationship with the very determined and overbearing Maximilian that he goes to Joe's apartment and what happens there is whet we just got a glimpse off, with Maxiamilian getting blown away, what happened at the start of the film.In between the flashbacks, with Joe bearing his soul in the mess he got himself into, we have Joe holed up in his apartment holding off the entire city police force. It's only when Joe realizes that he's not alone in the world with Jo Ann and almost the entire town, in him being such a nice guy, coming to his defense that not only the cops but Joe himself cease firing giving himself a chance, in gunning down an unarmed man, to later prove his innocence in a court of law!***SPOILERS***You couldn't really feel that sorry for Joe in that not only did he put himself the local police as well as dozens of peoples lives, including Jo Ann, in jeopardy he acted like a real jerk in making himself out as the victim, in order to gain sympathy, in this whole scenario which in fact he wasn't. Talking about his experiences in the war and how he killed people in the defense of his country rang a bit hollow in his gunning down the totally helpless Maximilian who in fact handed him the gun that Joe shot and killed him with! Even though the movie ended with Joe giving himself up and looking like a hero, in gunning down an unarmed man?, we never got to see what the jury at his trial , after reviewing all the evidence in the case, final verdict was!