Clash by Night (1952)

Jerry's the salt of the earth, but he's not the right seasoning for you.

Clash by Night is directed by Fritz Lang and adapted to screenplay by Alfred Hayes from the play written by Clifford Odets. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan and Marilyn Monroe. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

Tis a tale of stilted raw passions, frustrations and wrong decisions that unfurl in a California seacoast fishing town. Essentialy it finds Stanwyck as Mae Doyle who returns to her home town fishing village of Menterey, Calif. She's bitter and unfullfilled and marries the amiable but not very bright Jerry D'Amato (Douglas) in spite of both their better judgements. With her being inexplicably drawn to Jery's woman hating friend, Earl (Ryan), and her brother Joe (Andes) fretting that his sister Peggy (Monroe) will be corrupted by Mae's bitterness, it's a hotbed of character fallibilities.

To my mind It's all very stagy and a little too overwrought, and frustrating given that the themes within the play looked to be perfect for the great Fritz Lang. Not that it's either a stinker or a critical bomb (like the play itself), it isn't, it's just too soap opera to fully ignite the thematics at the core of the story. On the flip side, aside from Douglas' awful histrionic laden peformance, the acting is top notch. You may not care about these characters but you can't be anything but very involved and hang on to see what will happen to them all. Dialogue is a plus point, resplendent with barbs and choiceisms, while although the also great Musuraca is not in is chirascuro element, there's enough atmospheric photography - particularly when story plays out at the docks setting - to catch the eyes with mood compliance. Unfortunately the unconvicing sets are matched by the wholly unconvincing and disappointing finale.

Just above average and lower tier fare on the CV's of Lang, Ryan and Stanwyck, it does however serve notice of what promise Monroe had. If only she could have been led the right way by genuine people. See this if only for Monroe's sprightly turn. 6/10