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From Losey's American feature films (a period which barely lasted four years, when he fell victim to political persecution) I had only previously watched his eccentric debut, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR (1948). The same year he made THE BIG NIGHT, a low-budget noir, he directed two other thrillers - THE PROWLER, Losey's own favorite from this early phase of his career and M, an Americanization of Fritz Lang's German masterpiece. Both these films promise to be a good deal more interesting than the ones I watched, and I hope I get the chance to view them someday...

Anyway, back to THE BIG NIGHT: in itself, it wasn't too bad but it didn't feel at all like a Losey film; perhaps that's because I'm not used to watching him dealing with an American setting - but it's still a minor film, not quite knowing where it's going and not even that compelling while it's on. The noir-ish atmosphere (courtesy of cinematographer Hal Mohr), however, is quite interestingly deployed - sometimes with an audacious psychological resonance, as in the nightclub scene where a riotous drum solo brings back to lead John Barrymore Jr. (looking more like Sean Penn than his matinée' idol father!) memories of his father's vicious beating at the hands of a crippled but influential sports columnist (an effectively sinister Howard St. John); the latter episode is actually a key scene, which sets the plot in motion and sends Barrymore - who witnessed father Preston Foster's humiliation and whom he idolized - seething with revenge in search of St. John.

The characters are largely stereotypes - caring bartender (Foster owns a bar), philosophical drunk pal, his bitter girlfriend (a rather spent Dorothy Comingore, who 10 years earlier had played Susan Alexander in CITIZEN KANE [1941]!), her good-girl sister who falls for and yearns to 'save' Barrymore, shady promoter Emil Meyer (a dry run for his memorable turn as a crooked cop in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS [1957]), etc. - but the last act provides a couple of ironic twists involving the characters of Foster, St. John and the tragic fate of a woman they both loved in their own way.

Lots of accused Communists involved in this film, and one spy!

Yes - John Barrymore Jr. Was paid and given an expense account to spy on poor Joseph Losey, the director. Barrymore later confessed to Losey, who forgave him, and the two enjoyed fabulous meals on Barrymore's FBI expense account.

George La Main (John Drew Barrymore) is Georgie, who watches his father caned and beaten brutally by a sportswriter, Al Judge. We don't know why, just that he takes it.

Georgie, only 17, is traumatized and wants revenge. This quest takes him to a prize fight, nightclubs, and apartments in walk-ups in the seedier parts of Los Angeles as apropos the noir atmosphere. What Georgie learns will take him out of his youth. It's disillusioning but it's reality, like it or not.

This is Losey's last film before blacklisting causes him to leave the country. The role of Georgie is a James Dean-type role. Georgie is portrayed as kind of a dork though Barrymore was better looking than this. He does a good job as the tortured young man.

Preston Foster, Howard St. John, Joan Lorring, and Dorothy Comingore (in her last role) provide good support.

In the end, the film, though uneven, shows that secrets and lies can hurt, and people can betray and disappoint you; sadly, it's all part of life's tapestry.

Certainly no one knew that better than Losey, the ruined Comingore, uncredited writers Lardner and Butler, and actor Howard Chamberlin, all part of this film and blacklisted.

As previous reviewer wrote, saw this on TCM and the sound was terrible. Good story in need of a cleanup. I like hearing dialogue.

Joseph Losey on his nightmare years on Hollywood accused of anti-American activities that famous black list, here made a small Noir picture starring the younger Barrymore's clan John Barrymore Jr, playing a teenager who testified his beloved father Andy La Main (Preston Foster) get beat up upon eyes of many customers without any defensive posture, it pulls out entrains of soul, seek revenge through the night against a notorious sportswriter Al Judge (Howard St. John) wherever he goes all night long, firstly on a box match where he bumps into a friendly guy Dr. Lloyd Cooper (Philip Bourneuf) who'll buy an extra ticket, stolen by a corrupt cop aftermaths, he is introduces for a Dr. Lloyd's lover Marion (Joan Loring) at night club, meanwhile looking around Al Judge's whereabouts.

The young George La Main stalking Al Judge in every place, this journey actually is his prove of fire, due in that night George will see how the anger sometimes is silly over a so complex matter regarding his father's past happenings, he'll meets a gorgeous black singer girl, where the society barrier split apart, also on Marion's apartment he randomly faces a young girl whom cares about him, depressing and haunted George seeks Al Judge at your own apartment aiming for clear up and finally got his so awaited revenge, however the real reason will baffled him when the perpetrator claiming a fair reason.

Aside the fine premise the outcome is faraway to be suitable, a lame screenplay lost a fair opportunity to allowed a convincing ending, what a waste, in other hand there are plenty of fine sequences at long night in several places, as the fabulous one at toilet, also on the box match when George watching Al Judge thru binocs one second later Al disappears from the sight, fantastic sequences worthwhile a look in this early Losey.

Thanks for reading

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Joseph Losey's The Big Night is a film noir that's also, like Moonrise and Talk About A Stranger, a coming-of-age story. The young male undergoing his transformational journey is John Barrymore, Jr., son of the Great Profile and father of Drew. His film career was not high-profile, as he inherited the family disposition toward chemical dependency (blood will tell). But here, boasting a luxuriantly healthy crown of hair, he gives a surprisingly intense yet controlled performance. His big night happens to be his 16th or 17th birthday, when his barkeep father is brutally beaten and publicly humiliated by a local sportswriter (Losey's staging is unflinching). Frustrations about his own Hamlet-like ditherings and confusions impel him to seek revenge on his father's behalf, and, gun in pocket, he sets out into a nightscape of prize fights, gin mills and the walk-up flats of casually met strangers. While Losey's sympathies lie with Barrymore, it's always clear that the emergent man is still a callow stripling, incapable of apprehending the complex reality he crashes into, like a fatted calf in a china shop. Though the director refrains from pushing the conclusion to where it might logically go -- he retreats into sentimentality and sententiousness -- The Big Night still scores as a provocative, moodily shot film.

John Drew Barrymore Jr. Enters the "Family Tradition" and Dives Deeply and Emerges with an Over-the-Top Hot Performance that Desperately Demands a Non-Nepo Response.

Awkward, Nervously Angst-Ridden, He Performs Like His Life Depended-On-It, Trying Maybe a Beat too Hard.

But Director Losey Let Him, and other Things Here Go Un-Checked.

Relying on the Dark Underbelly of the City its Megalopolis Tendency to Erode and Crush the "Little People", that by Fate, Inhabit the Arteries of the "Concrete Jungle" Clinging to Every Vine and Crevice for Survival.

The Movie seems a Bit-Rushed (anticipating Losey's life in forced-flux), compared to Other more Solid Cinema Unleashed by the Cynical, Left-Leaning "Auteur" that was Victimized by the "Red-Scare" and an Out-of-Control Political Corruption that Failed to See the Unconstitutional Error of Their Ways in Real Time.

The Film, in 1951 was Made when Film-Noir itself was the Victim of a "System" on the Warpath to Sanitize anything in America that Looked Like a Trend Away from the Idealistic, Road-Map Created for a Guide of What Was and What Was Not Acceptable to the Clergy, Law Enforcement and a Fake Moral-Compass Pointing the Way of "Americanism" by Standards Made-Up On-the-Fly to Fit the Form of a Pre-Conceived Conservative Society that Toed-the-Line, Obeyed Orders from the Top and Didn't Ask Questions. After All, "They" were Looking-Out-For-You.

Losey, and Others were Free-Thinking, Empathetic, and were More Interested in the Collective Good and Not the Collective as Sub-Servant.

A True Film-Noir Founder and Pioneer. "The Big Night" is just 1 of His Many Contributions to the Growing, Spontaneous, Sub-Genre that Allowed 1940's Creative Film-Makers and Social Commentators to Vent and Vocalize a Point of View that was Hardly Main-Stream.

Like All of Joseph Losey Films...

Worth a Watch.

A truly cop out ending really ruins what was potentially a great coming of age film. John Drew Barrymore gave an outstanding performance as our youth protagonist who does a lot of growing up in The Big Night.

Young Barrymore celebrating his 17th birthday is horrified that at his birthday party sportswriter Howard St.John gives Barrymore's father Preston Foster one severe and public thrashing. And Foster who back in his prime Hollywood days in the 30s was one rugged tough guy just submits to it. A case of directolr Joseph Losey casting successfully against type. i do wish we saw a bit more of Foster in the film though.

Looking to avenge the family honor Barrymore has quite an odyssey on his Big Night.

I can't say more lest I spoil things, but the ending was a cop out. My guess was that the soon to be blacklisted Joe Losey made some concession to Hollywood convention. It was not over politics though.

Not the best note Losey could have left America on.

The tale is based on an obscure novel called The Dreadful Summit by author/screenplay-writer Stanley Ellin. The script for the film appears to be a jumbled mess, but each segment has great independent value that is the result of an intelligent Losey touch. The lovely remarkable scenes are the following:

A. Young bespectacled George bullied by friend to kiss a girl whom he likes B. A birthday cake with lighted candles given by his father that George is unable to blow out in full, One remains lit ominously. The cake serves as a reminder that the entire film deals with happenings of a single day. At the last scene the cake reappears to remind us of it. C. What appears to be real is proved unreal time and time again. D. The left-sympathizing Losey and friends made the film with a cleverness missing in other films of the day. Closure of the bars's curtains by the assistant to George's dad is a symbolic in an odd way. E. The small bitter role given to the enigmatic "2nd Mrs Citizen Kane" (Dorothy Comingore) as Julie Rostina, after she was hounded out in real life by Randolph Hearst and then the awful McCarthy witch hunt of alleged communists in Hollywood that followed states a story within a story. It is sad the way she died in real life. She had so much potential as an actress. F. The honest appreciation of beauty and talent of a black singer by George leads to so much bitterness of color-based prejudices. Losey adds a black poodle in chains in that scene. G The two kisses of George in the film are so different (the opening sequence and later one with Marion)

These sequences are all wonderful, though the film never comes together. Yet it is a notable statement of undying love by a husband for his wayward wife and also of a motherless young man trying to love women and eventually grow up to be a good husband.

John Drew Barrymore brings the vaunted thespian family name but not the chops to the The Big Night, a somewhat pedestrian noir that looks like it was made on the cheap in a warehouse studio. A dark night of the soul coming of age drama Barrymore borders on cringing from start to finish with a whiny unconvincing performance.

Georgie La Main (Barrymore) wrestles with being 17 as a nerd outcast. When his bar owner father (Preston Foster) is humiliated by a sadistic sports writer in front of his patrons, George gets his hand on a gun and vows vengeance. In a walk on the wild side he spends the night coming of age quickly in a series of seamy situations.

Barrymore is certainly no Dean and his teenage angst fails to resonate. Director Joe Losey, making his last film before being chased out of the US by "Red Hunters" seems distracted, his cast unenergized his sets and compositions lifeless and lacking ambience; the film's most exhilerating moment a drum solo in a jazz club. The Big Night offers little in return.

Uneven film that at times seems to drift. Still, there are genuinely compelling moments, as when burly dad LeMaine (Foster, in a fine performance) meekly submits to a brutal cane lashing that had me cringing. Why he's submitting remains a puzzle until the end. Because of the beating, Dad's insecure son George (Barrymore Jr.) spends the movie's remainder trying to avenge his father.

Beneath the revenge narrative, however, is really a rite-of-passage story. For example, in a not very believable opening, a cringing George is pounded in humiliating fashion by his teenage peers. We're given no explanation, nor does actor Barrymore physically resemble an easy mark. It's not a promising beginning. Then, in a much more persuasive scene, Dad casts a slightly disapproving eye over his nervous son's birthday cake (symbolic of the story). So the kid must prove himself not only to Dad, but to himself.

It's not a tight screenplay. Events more or less simply follow one another, tied together by the theme of vengeance. Happily, however, the narrative doesn't drag. Actor Barrymore Jr. had a rather brief career despite the pedigree. One thing for sure, he's certainly different looking. With a mop of unruly hair and slightly crooked mouth, he's no glamor boy. Nonetheless, his looks are perfect for the role, such that, when he dons a sport coat and hat, he still looks like a kid trying to take a big step up. All in all, the young actor does pretty well in the kind of difficult role that would later go to James Dean. I also like a de-glamorized Joan Lorring, who's a good match for him. My one real complaint is the way Al Judge (St. John) is written. His behavior is so crude and ugly, it's hard thinking of him as a respected sports writer. A racketeer would have been more credible and easier, so the scriptwriters must have had a reason.

Then too, the screenwriters, Butler and Lardner Jr., along with director Losey, were all blacklisted during Hollywood's commie hunting period. I suspect it was their leftist leanings that are responsible for one of the film's most arresting sequences. George goes to a nightclub where a drop-dead beautiful black songstress (Mauri Lynn) entertains. Afterward, he encounters her outside and is compelled to compliment her looks and talent. She glows at the flattering remark. Trouble is his heartfelt momentum carries over to the unspoken qualification "for a Negro woman". She grasps the unfortunate hanging-in-the-air racial reference, and is reminded of her not-fully-equal status. Thus, disappointment clouds her former glow. It's a beautifully played moment and quite powerful in emotional impact. I wonder what happened to that fine actress.

Anyway, the movie does have a number of effective noir touches, especially George's twilight escape through LA's towering industrial district. It's a mysterious world so much larger than himself. All in all, the film is oddly memorable, thanks, I think, to Barrymore's unusual presence. I know I sought it out on DVD, lo, so many years after having first seen it in a theatre.

(In passing—the burly guy sitting next to Barrymore and Bourneuf ringside at the fights is Robert Aldrich, the great director of such classics as Kiss Me Deadly {1955} and Attack {1956}.)

Joseph Losey's (The Servant/King & Country) 1951 film noir about a fateful night when a boy goes out to seek revenge against the man who beat his father in front of him. John Drew Barrymore (Drew's dad) wakes up on his birthday to finalize his plans for that night (he & his dad are planning to attend the fights) but in the midst of blowing out the candles on his cake, in walks a man (a sports writer of some renown) who promptly makes his father takes off his shirt, lay down on the floor & get beaten by his cane. The image rolls around in the boy's head so he resolves to get his by taking the family gun & go out into the night to mitigate some payback. At the fights, he befriends a professor (he scalps his extra ticket to him) & while on the chase decides to tag along w/him to a night club. What follows, in seemingly real time, is a journey into choices which may or may not backfire on him as he finally finds the sports scribe & hopefully get the answers he searches for. Running a scant 80 minutes, the film is a marvel shot in actual locations w/the prospect of salvation around every corner. Also starring Dorothy Comingore (she played Kane's mistress in Citizen Kane) & Emile Meyer who plays a nasty heavy who encounters our hero at the fights.

Plot stinks. Only one dimensional. The reason only unveiled at the end.

The story here is revenge, more real-life based, a 1950's version of the crime of passion. A teenager's good-hearted father is beaten to a pulp by a gangster, so the kid invades the streets to get some payback. The father's not worried about the floor-wiping, which leads to a mystery behind the teen's mother, who skipped out on the family long ago, and a woman the father knows who has committed suicide.

Seeing this film, there's not much in terms of plot, but there are some notable scenes, particularly when the kid hears a beautiful night-club singer, becomes entranced, gets a chance to meet her on the street, and tells her how beautiful she is. Even though she's, you know,

black. The pain in the singer's face rends the poor kid, who was transported by her voice, but can't get beyond her skin color.

This film also has one of THE great lines ever in any film noir or any movie period, at least concerning the tragedy between a man and a woman, when there is love involved. There are no words more powerful or poignant, especially for a man who loves a woman beyond reason, who knows he has lost the love of his life. Unable to move on, to love or marry another woman after that one woman has destroyed him, and in fact still very much in love with his destroyer,

Preston Foster tells his son, "Sometimes a man loves one woman in the whole world. If she turns out to be the wrong one, well...that's just tough." Truly, the heart of noir is not blackness, but the white-hot scars of passion.

I'd love to rate this picture but it's hard to do so with the horrible audio. I've missed half of what's been said. rewinding over and over to try to glean a word or two makes this movie tiresome to watch. The sketchy plot is not helped by the lack of dialogue.

As someone who knew John Barrymore Jr. 25 years ago, I was heartbroken to see him early in his aborted film career. Though not as charismatic as James Dean would be just a couple of years later, he was certainly Dean's prototype in The Big Night. Perhaps with a better film and a less disturbed personality, Barrymore might have been a working Hollywood actor for many years to come. Anyway, what director Joseph Losey lacked here was the Los Angeles cityscape he used to full effect that same year in his retelling of Fritz Lang's M. The Big Night was screaming for a location project on downtown L.A.'s seedy, beaten down Bunker Hill, a neighborhood of crumbling Victorian mansions and apartment buildings with vertiginous stairways that provided so much atmosphere to other films, such as Kiss Me Deadly, Criss-Cross, The Exiles and, yes, M. Instead, the movie is stage bound and hemmed in by sets that never look convincing. With its rambling "a night in the life" plot line, The Big Night needed another character: a dark city of real streets, background lights, rambling old house, and dingy clubs and bars. In other words, the kind of verisimilitude that transports the viewer into the protagonist's world. The back lot, unfortunately, was a poor stand-in.