Although I have never been much of a fan of Marilyn Monroe, I suspect it is only because I haven’t seen enough movies she was in. And yet, I can’t deny there is that elusive star quality to her that makes a viewer pay attention to what she is doing whenever she is on screen, regardless of the other actors in the same shot.
She’s a minor character in 1952’s Clash by Night, but she steals every scene she’s in, and seemingly with little effort. That’s pretty good when you are sometimes sharing the screen with Barbara Stanwyck. Here, she plays the fiancée of Stanwyck’s brother, played by Keith Andes. It is pretty strange to see Monroe cast as a shlub gutting fish all day at a cannery. That she is believable in these moments is a testament to her oft-derided acting ability.
Stanwyck has returned to this seaside shithole after failing to make it big on her terms in the outside world: “Home is where you come when you run out of places.” As she tells it to Andes, she married a rich man and was soon widowed. She received a nice inheritance, only for the other heirs to successfully challenge it in court.
One person who is thrilled to see her back is Paul Doulgas, a boat captain with a big, open heart and who has always been smitten with her. Her successfully woos her, and they eventually marry and have a baby together. Admittedly, Stanwyck has set the bar rather low: “I want a man to give me confidence. Somebody to beat off the world before it swallows you up.” She commits to Douglas, though she had warned him he’s too nice and she’ll ruin him. That’s partly true—she’ll have help from some others in that effort.
Also in their house is Silvio Minciotti as Douglas’s father and J. Carrol Naish as his uncle. Naish has a particularly juicy role as a vile shit-stirrer who is always looking to plant seeds of discord, even when it has no direct benefit to himself. Needless to say, he will be a catalyst in Douglas’s eventual downfall.
Almost as vile is Robert Ryan as the alleged best friend of Douglas. Ryan always radiates a thinly-veiled hostility in his performances, and he is especially sinister here.
From the moment Douglas introduces him to Stanwyck, he is a threat to their relationship. This, despite him already being married to a burlesque danger. He is also such an unrepentant misogynist that he says of his spouse he wants “to stick her full of pins just to see if blood runs out.” Another charming bon mot is “Haven’t you ever wanted to cut up a beautiful dame?” It’s no surprise he’s also a racist, and we’ll be treated to his shockingly crude impersonation of a Chinese person.
These are not the only repellent men in this film. There is also an undercurrent of a threat throughout Adres’s performance. In one disturbing scene, he “playfully” strangles Monroe with a towel, as if such a thing can be done in such a lighthearted manner. I was very happy when she responds by slugging him in the kisser.
Overall, this is a darker film than I expected, even for one directed by Fritz Lang. There are a couple of mentions of news stories where dead bodies were found nearby, including one of a days-old infant. Curiously, these elements do not factor in the overall plot, but they still establish an air of lingering dread.
The cynical nature of the material is not surprising when one realizes the script is from Clifford Odets, the scribe of Sweet Smell of Success. Similar to that film, the dialog is clever almost to a fault, though not as memorable as that of the other film. Characters here keep saying, “Go away, dust”, which I doubt was ever a popular phrase anywhere at any point in the past.
The finale of Clash By Night has Douglas as a cuck amok, snapping from the various pressures put upon him by almost every other character. His rage is believable and understandable, even if the developments and characters in this picture are not entirely believable. I mildly recommend this film, though largely because it is a curious work that never feels quite settled or sure of itself.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas
Watched on Warner Archive blu-ray