Clash by Night (1952)
Directed by Fritz Lang
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan and Marilyn Monroe
105 minutes
The beginning of Clash by Night has waves and these aren’t slow moving waves. They’re crashing hard against rocks. I guess this is supposed to be symbolic for what happens later in the story.
Next, to calms things down a bit, we are shown seals, pelicans, seagulls and finally fishing boats coming back to port after catching lots and lots of fish.
The setting of the movie is in a small port town. The main industry is fishing and the cannery. It’s a pretty dull town.
In a cafe, Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck), comes in and sits down. She orders a brandy with her coffee and smokes away. She’s a tough lady...
Jerry D’Amato (Paul Douglas), is a fisherman, and in the cafe he recognizes her. She doesn’t pay much attention to him but later they end up dating.
Mae and Jerry decide to get married and things go well for a while until Jerry’s best friend Earl (Robert Ryan) gets involved romantically with Mae. There are some might steamy kisses in this movie!
Well, that’s kind of how the movie unravels. It’s a drama (not film noir!) and there’s some pretty good acting in it. Barbara Stanwyck delivers her cynical lines with ease and conviction. Paul Douglas play a good “homely” character and Robert Ryan is pure bitterness in this movie.
Marilyn Monroe has a small part in this film. She’s Mae’s brother’s girlfriend and becomes friends with Mae in the story. She acts cute, feisty and cheerful in this movie.
I didn’t find the actual story to be that interesting and I’m sure most people can predict what’s going to happen with the relationship of Mae and Earl. I suppose the writer wanted to make Barbara Stanwyck’s character to be “mysterious”... we don’t find out the real reason why she returned to her hometown until later in the movie...
The dialogue is quite witty in this movie. It’s too bad I can’t recount too many phrases since the lines were delivered so quickly. This and good acting seems to keep this movie afloat.
The central theme of this movie is being faithful and since it was made in 1952, I’m guessing the idea of a woman with a child having an affair in a movie must have been quite scandalous.
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