Échec à la Gestapo

The discovery that your cheesecake vendors gone, leads to a caper that you wouldn't gamble on, in a club someone's rid of, and in error you leave a glove, as five fingers point to what you've stumbled on. With help you make it to an auctioneers, after wandering around a place in rears, but you're captured and you're bound, not long after you are found, then discover there are fascists in the gears. There's some toing and some froing that leads to, a vipers nest of Nazis who review, plans to set off an explosion, causing chaos and commotion, can you stop the saboteurs, what can you do?

An of its time, not particularly funny, propaganda promotion.

A neat little comic thriller out of Warner Brothers with Bogart as Gloves Donahue and a great supporting cast filled with names that run on and on. Two particular scenes stand out. Bogart, a lowbrow New Yorker, finds himself stuck at a fancy auction and in an attempt to get backstage begins making outrageous bids -- a woman bids two thousand and Bogart tops her with, "I'll see da lady and raise her five." He gets backstage but is conked unconscious. Recovering, he finds the warehouse filled with incriminating Nazi junk. He spills all this to the dubious police. "I can't grasp it," says the Lieutenant, "maybe I'm not big enough mentally." But finally the cops agree to investigate the warehouse, only for Bogart to discover that everything has been rearranged or removed in such a way as to make his tale sound like a fantasy. (Does any of this sound familiar? You might have seen it in Sam Taylor's screenplay for "North by Northwest.") Great snappy lines -- Bogart to a girl singer: "Sister, I like da way you sling dem obligattos around." While digging around for evidence with his friend Sunshine, "Da police are frequently skeptical." Not as tightly wound as the best comic thrillers, including "North by Northwest" and "The Thirty-Nine Steps," but well worth wasting time on.

Vincent Sherman's "All Through the Night" has a feeling of a B picture, although probably was not intended to be that way. This 1942 Warner Bros. film is much more enjoyable than we suspected, because even though the film was supposed to tackle a serious problem, it has a lot of fun moments that make the film much lighter in tone than perhaps the film makers intended.

At the center of the story we find 'Gloves' Donahue, a small time gangster and his crew. They are a fun group that are drawn into an international spy story right in their own backyard. Ma Donahue comes to ask her son's assistance in trying to solve the murder of her baker neighbor, and the fun and games begin in full force.

There are a lot of good moments in the film, but it is dominated by Humphrey Bogart who runs away with the picture. His crew is also a great asset to the film, Frank McHugh, a fantastic actor, no matter in what picture is excellent, as well as William Demarest, one of the best character actors in the movies of that era. A much slender Jackie Gleason puts in an appearance as Starchy, a member of Donahue's team.

The heavies are amazing. Conrad Veidt is wonderful as the Nazi spy trying to blow up a ship in New York's harbor. Mr. Veidt was such an elegant figure in everything he did. Judith Anderson is seen as the mysterious assistant to Mr. Veidt's character. Ms. Anderson had a way about her that she dominates the scenes in which she appears. Peter Lorre does a lot with his small piano player, Pepi.

The film never ceases to entertain. Thanks to Mr. Humphrey and the wonderful cast assembled for the movie, it will not disappoint anyone with an open eye for a lighter take on a serious matter.

Not the typical Bogie film, but still with the typical Bogie... cracking wise and being a tough guy that is slower to catch on that usual. This is more of a romp with plenty of fun thrown in, almost akin to a Bob Hope style Ghost Busters or even a Bowery Boys serial. William Demarest plays a good supporting role for those of us that only remember him from "My Three Sons" replacement to Bill Frawley.

If you are a fan of the 30's and 40's style vernacular, you will enjoy this film more than most from the period as the lingo is fast and furious and many terms familiar with some new ones in there as well. Light humor, CORNY... but get a bucket of corn of your own to fight back with... and hiss the villain... Gee, I wonder if Bogie will come through in the end and get the pretty girl?!!?

A very funny war era movie. Bogart had played a gangster in comedies (Brother Orchid with Edward J. Robinson), but played it straight as a tough guy. This movie highlighted Bogart's great comedic timing which was also evident in harder edged movies from the same period: The Big Sleep, Casablanca, and the Maltese Falcon. All Through the Night makes a fun companion piece to these movies and like the others, has a great supporting cast.