All Through the Night (1942)

Humphry Bogart is easily one of the best known actors to ever appear on the cinema screen. Such films as Casablanca, The Treasure of the Serra Madre and The Maltase Falcon will always be some of the most widely praised movies ever made and for good reason they are incredible. However with as huge of an output as Bogey had some had some films naturally had to be forgotten. Naturally as well some of these forgotten films have to be really good as well. Such is the case with All Through the Night.

The movie however wasn't always going to star Bogey. As strange as it might seem the original star was going to be Walter Winchell, a famous gossip columnist at this time. Winchell was not known as an actor, but producer Hal Wallis felt that the novelty alone would make the movie money, even if Winchell's acting left something to be desired. Winchell however could not take the time off of his job to act in the movie. After this the lead role was offered to George Raft, who turned it down (he also turned down the lead in The Maltese Falcon which of course also would go to Bogey). After this the role was finally given to Humphry Bogart.

Before Warner Brothers made All Through the Night Hal Wallis saw another anti-Nazi film called Underground. This was a low budget serious film and did poorly at the box office. The movie was also directed by Vincent Sherman who would direct All Through the Night. Wallis felt this film was pure propaganda and made sure All Through the Night would be different and it was. This movie would be much more humorous and fun. All Through the Night would be a true action comedy. The movie was also an A picture with a $600,000 budget. Sherman however felt for this being an A picture he was being underpaid at around $300 a week. According to him most A picture directors got thousand of dollars a week at that time. However he felt that the fun of making this film made up for that.

Not only was Bogey in the lead but the supporting actors would be an incredible lineup. Included are Peter Lorre, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason, Edward Brophy (my fellow Disney buffs will immediately recognize his voice as Timothy Mouse from Dumbo), and Jane Darwell (who had recently won an academy award for best supporting actress for play Ma Joad in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath). Jackie Gleason and Phil Silvers were just starting around this time, when Jack Warner told Vincent Sherman to put them into the picture. Sherman asked them to bring in some jokes and he would see what could be done with these two. Gleason brought in a page of jokes and Silvers brought in seven pages.

One of the best scenes of the movie involves a double talk routine. Hal Wallis hated this scene, but Vincent Sherman felt it needed to be in the movie. Wallis said that the scene should be removed. However Sherman kept in a bit of it for a preview audience and the audience found it very funny. Because of this Wallis demanded the scene be put back into the film.

The storyline of this movie involves a gangster named Gloves Donahue (played by Humphry Bogart), who loves his Cheesecake from Miller's Bakery. However one day Miller (played by Ludwig Stössel) is attacked by a thug named Pepe (played by Peter Lorre). Gloves' mother (played by Jane Darwell) has a hunch that a woman (played by Kaaren Verne) has something to do with it. Gloves goes out to investigate and ends up going against Nazi spies.

This is an extremely entertaining movie, that is both funny and exciting. Many scenes of this movie (like the aforementioned double talk) are very funny, and the timing couldn't be better. To make matters even better is that the action scenes here are very exciting. The reason for this is the characters are so well written, and you care about what happens to them. All of this adds up to a very funny movie and a must watch for classic movie fans.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2526/All-Through-the-Night/articles.html