Clash by Night [Blu-ray]

Director: Fritz Lang Fritz Lang

Overview

Adapted from a play by Clifford Odets, Clash by Night is a pretentious but well-staged "kitchen sink" drama involving love and lust in a tiny fishing village. Desperate for security and happiness, Barbara Stanwyck enters into a loveless marriage with cloddish but likeable fisherman Paul Douglas. Douglas' best pal is local movie projectionist Robert Ryan, who makes a beeline for Stanwyck. She entertains thoughts of leaving Douglas, but is dissuaded by her knowledge of his volatile temper. Given the film's title, a "clash by night" is inevitable, but the results aren't as horrible as Stanwyck imagined. Counterpointing the film's main triangle is a subplot involving the tempestuous romance between Keith Andes and Marilyn Monroe, the latter playing a naive but sexy young girl who yearns for the sort of adventure that the "worldly" Stanwyck has supposedly experienced in her life. Clash by Night was directed by the mercurial Fritz Lang, who enjoyed working with the ever-professional Stanwyck but had the devil's own time coaxing a believable performance out of Monroe (though he certainly succeeded).

Product Details

Release Date:	05/02/2023
UPC:	0883929808359
Original Release:	1952
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Barbara Stanwyck	Mae Doyle D'Amato
Paul Douglas	Jerry D'Amato
Robert Ryan	Earl Pfeiffer
Marilyn Monroe	Peggy
J. Carrol Naish	Uncle Vince
Keith Andes	Joe Doyle
Silvio Minciotti	Papa
Julius Tannen	Sad-Eyed Waiter
Tony Dante	Fisherman at Pier
Roy Darmour	Man
Nancy Duke	Guest
Sally Yarnell	Guest
Irene Crosby	Guest
Gilbert Frye	Man
Helen Hansen	Guest
Dick Coe	Guest
Al Cavens	Guest
Dan Bernaducci	Guest
William Norton Bailey	Waiter
Bert Stevens	Bartender
Mario Siletti	Bartender
Art Dupuis	Customer
Bill Slack	Customer
Diane Stewart	Baby
Frank Kreig	Art
Roy Webb	Composer

Technical Credits

Alfred Hayes

Clifford Odets

David Dortort

Fritz Lang	Director
Harriet Parsons	Producer
Jerry Wald	Executive Producer
Harold Wellman	Special Effects
Alfred Hayes	Screenwriter
Clifford Odets	Screenwriter
David Dortort	Screenwriter
Clem Portman	Sound/Sound Designer
Jean Speak	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

You can cut the melodrama with a knife in this compelling but occasionally overblown drama directed by Fritz Lang and based on the play by Clifford Odets. Supported with the usual fine direction by Lang, Clash by Night is also the beneficiary of a remarkable performance by star Barbara Stanwyck, who delivers her biting, caustic dialogue with perfection. "What do you want, Joe, my life's history," she snaps miserably. "Here it is in four words: big ideas, small results." Alternating between bitterness and tenderness, Stanwyck delivers a character who could have been a disaster in the hands of a lesser actress. Paul Douglas, looking, sounding, and acting a lot like Lon Chaney Jr., provides a solid characterization of the simpleton who falls for Stanwyck, and Robert Ryan infuses his lecherous Earl with the requisite nasty disposition. Lang may have had trouble handling Marilyn Monroe, but the blonde bombshell is a pleasant, lighthearted addition in a supporting role. The script by Alfred Hayes is excellent, and feeds Stanwyck and Ryan with plenty of ripe dialogue, while building the story up to the inevitable "clash" foretold in the title. As a footnote in the politically incorrect department, Ryan does an atrocious Chinese impression.