One Crowded Night

Nice B movie starring some fine character actors. The story has different people stopping at a motor court run by a family with secrets. Before the hour & change is up, everyone's problems will be solved. Enjoyable thanks mostly to the cast and some better than average direction for a B. The biggest issue for those who prefer strong stories is that the plot is driven heavily by coincidence. People show up at the most opportune time to keep the story going where the writer needed it to go and everybody seems to have a connection to somebody else. Still, it's impossible to dislike entirely. The strong cast includes Anne Revere, Paul Guilfoyle, William Haade, Billie Seward, J.M. Kerrigan, Don Costello, Emma Dunn, and Gale Storm. Lots of expressive faces and subtle performances. If you're a classic film fan and are looking for something a little off the beaten path, you could do worse than this one.

Remember in "Grand Hotel" when the Doctor in the lobby mutters to himself that "People come and people go and nothing ever happens"? I thought it could apply to the desert motel in "One Crowded Night", but altered a little to, "nothing of great import ever happens".

This picture was on TCM this morning. I had never seen it and, since this was the tack-on day to the Independence Day weekend, I decided, what the heck - can't hurt. Well, I was right. It didn't hurt, and I got to see some Hollywood veteran bit players with something meatier than a walk-on or a face in the crowd.

It really wasn't bad, it just wasn't that good. There were some contrived plot devices to make the screenplay more interesting and it was very short at about 65 minutes. Not necessary to go into detail - several people stop at the motel and they have their own story to tell and matters are brought to a satisfactory conclusion. But there must be a basic flaw in a movie in which the cast of characters is more interesting than the plot. Watchable, if it's on during the next holiday weekend, but don't waste a tape.

While the whole set-up of this RKO B-movie is ridiculous, the film is nonetheless worth watching.

Viewers of the recent thriller/horror movie "Identity" will quickly realize that the screenwriter of that flick has obviously seen this movie.

At just over an hour, the plot here is barely fleshed out, with one contrivance piled on top of another.

The performances are either ridiculous ("Doc" Joseph), or sincere (Anne Revere, Gale Storm). The location set is well-designed, being realistic, as opposed to a back lot imitation.

"One Crowded Night" is a pretty good B-movie from RKO. Now what I mean when I call it a B-movie is that in the old days of double- features, the shorter film was called the B-film. The Bs were usually between 55-65 minutes long, had a cast featuring a few minor stars (if any) and had a low budget compared to the A-picture. Many folks assume Bs are synonymous with bad...but sometimes Bs were as good or better than the featured film. In the case of "One Crowded Night", despite its humble status as a B, it's better than quite a few A-pictures I have seen.

The story is set in a restaurant/hotel in the outskirts of the Mojave desert. In many ways, it's like the place featured a few years earlier in "The Petrified Forest" but in California instead of nearby Arizona. The place ends up being like the Love Boat or the Grand Hotel...a location where all sorts of soap opera-like stories unfold. One involves a family in hiding, another about an escaped con trying to clear his name, another with a young mother having a difficult childbirth and the disgraced doctor forced to help her. None of the stories are brilliant but all are well handled and interesting. Overall, a very well written B and despite mostly small-time actors, they gave it their best. And, incidentally, the finale is very nice.

Tight, entertaining curio if you accept the coincidence-based premise. Kind of a low-rent "Petrified Forest" that wraps everything up in about 90 seconds with relentlessly upbeat resolutions. Strong character ensemble includes an oddly off-center turn by a very young Gale Storm that avoids the pert, cute qualities of her "My Little Margie." Billie Seward (as Gladys, not a character named Gale Storm as IMDB lists it) registers strongly. I had never seen her before.