#william demarest

This was Preston Sturges' favourite of his own films.

By Bosley Crowther Jan. 24, 1942

Of one thing you may be certain: no national peril can ever impend which the Warner Brothers are unable to cope with in triumph—on the screen. And now, in "All Through the Night," which opened at the Strand yesterday, the Burbank brethren are confronting a sinister Nazi spy ring with the most effective opposition that their studio has at hand—their own stock company of tough guys, Broadway sharpies and muggs, led by that ever-resourceful facer of situations, Humphrey Bogart. When the Warner gang swings into action, the Nazis don't stand a chance, even with Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre on their side. And although the consequent conflict is as wild as a cowboy-Indian fight, it makes for uncommon excitement and a roaring adventure film.Let it be said for the record that this is a pre-Pearl Harbor job, lest any one raise the objection that it plays too fast and loose with a subject much too serious for melodramatic kidding in these times. One would hate to think that an enemy plot of such elaborate magnitude as the one presented here should be so completely overlooked by our capable F. B. I., and that the responsibility for licking it should fall upon a semi-gangster. So don't even let yourself think that this picture pretends to be fact. It is straight, unadulterated fiction pulled out of a script-writer's hat.

As such, it follows the sure-fire touch-and-go chase formula. A big-shot Broadway "promoter" is filled with curiosity when a little German baker, a friend of his, is rubbed out. The promoter, self-appointed, starts tracking random clues; he picks up a night-club singer who has a vaguely Germanic accent, and first thing he knows he is neck-deep in a highly mysterious plot One things leads to another, a shady warehouse to a phony auction room, and there the amateur detective encounters incredible things. He encounters—you'd never guess it — a virtual convention of Nazi spies, assembling to commit some strange manoeuvre against an American battleship in the harbor. Fights and shots in the dark, a wild chase through Central Park, and an ultimate battle royal follow in breathless succession, and the whole thing is climaxed by a bit of fantastic business in a motor boat, loaded with high explosives and aimed at the new battleship.

In spite of its slap-bang construction and its hour-and-three-quarters length, the picture does move with precision and steadily maintained suspense. Some of the details are excellent—and there is no reason why they shouldn't be, for the best bits are easily recognizable from such previous films as "The 39 Steps" and "M." But most of the impact is generated by a series of knock-down fights and the usual business of groping nervously about in the dark.

Mr. Bogart as the big shot plays with cool and calculated perfection. Mr. Veidt is equally effective as the brains of the Nazi ring. Kaaren Verne gives a pleasant performance as the German girl involved in the plot, and Frank McHugh, William Demarest, Barton MacLane, Peter Lorre and Judith Anderson give fine support.

"All Through the Night" is not exactly a melodrama out of the top drawer, but it is a super-duper action picture — mostly duper, when you stop to think.

ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT:

Screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass and Edwin Gilbert; based on a story by Mr. Spigelgass and Leonard Q. Ross (Leo C. Rosten); directed by Vincent Sherman for Warner Brothers. At the Strand.

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