A Night of Adventure

Tom Conway stars with Audrey Long in "A Night of Adventure," a 1944 film. Conway plays Mark Latham, a busy attorney who has canceled too many evenings with his wife Erica (Audrey Long). Unhappy, she decides to leave him and moves into her own apartment. One of her admirers is an artist, Tony Claire (Louis Borel). When his old girlfriend is murdered, Erica appeals to her husband to defend him, and he takes the case.

Okay film. Conway, the brother of George Sanders, has the family smooth voice, although he's less debonair than Sanders. Audrey Long is one of the glamorous, well spoken leading ladies of the '40s who didn't achieve big stardom; she retired when she married "The Saint" creator Leslie Charteris.

Entertaining - this film is a remake of a 1934 film "Hat, Coat, and Glove" and was originally a play of the same name.

Mark gets caught up in the murder of a woman in a flat. Tony, the owner of the flat, happens to be dating mark's wife, and is blamed for the murder. And even though they are separated, she wants mark to defend tony in court. Stars tom conway and audrey long, who sounds and acts just like myrna loy. Keep an eye out for studio regular ed brophy, who doesn't crack non-stop jokes in this one. We were deep in the depths of world war II, so i guess the director wanted this to be a more serious film. Lots of court-room zigging and zagging. You have to go along with everything that happens. It's all tied up so neatly in a bow at the end, in a rather rushed ending. Between the film code and the war, i guess it had to stay light. It's pretty good. Directed by gordon douglas.

This is a reductio ad aburdum that conjugal love is laudable and may be stronger than affairs ;the screenplay is pretty astute,since it blends two or three plots and the movie does not suffer for it;the long trial,for once,is not boring,and is not the moment when the lawyer hams it up;on the contrary,Tom Conway gives a restrained performance and the scene has plenty of suspense;in a small part,Nancy Gates almost steals the show,when she says she has never sworn ; a story of a defendant defended by his lover's husband ,it's not derivative for the time,and it is a pretty good thriller by Gordon Douglas,not Hitchcock,but worthwhile all the same.

Tom Conway is a very successful defense lawyer, but he's losing his wife, Audrey Long, through lack of attention. She's enamored of artist Louis Borel, and he of her. They're in his studio where model Jean Brooks barges in. She's drunk, and accusing Borel of making love to her, of them being engaged. Borel and Mrs. Brooks leave. Jealous Conway enters the studio and they talk. She starts to brandish a gun and it goes off. Mrs Brooks is killed, and Conway exits post haste. Borel is charged with murder, and Miss Long calls on Conway to defend him.

It's a remake of HAT, COAT, AND GLOVE and is a rapidly moving courtroom drama. I found it to be an adequate B, but not enough to be terribly interesting on its own, except for questions about how this movie got past the Hays office, when Conway gets away with it scot free. True, it's an accidental death, but he is never identified, despite some courtroom antics that should have been noticed. With Edward Brophy, Addison Richards, Russell Hopton, and Emory Parnell.

I was pleasantly surprised by this neat little one hour, 10 minute treat. I rated it an "8.", although it probably should average a "7.5" or so. Everything about it was adequate, and the plot was great. Conway was good looking and suave. The romantic patter was nice. The characters were pretty juiceless, though. Just let me say that the plot and denouement are particularly ingenious. Attorney Conway gets way over his head with a crime that threatens his career, innocence and marriage. The enjoyment of the film is wondering for so long how he and his client can possibly escape unharmed. That is enough. See and enjoy it.