Balas Contra a Gestapo

Humphrey Bogart and a cast of comedians and character actors make it "All Through the Night," a spy story set in New York City. Bogart plays Gloves Donahue, a bigwig in the sports world - gambler, bookie, and he likes to get tourists involved in rigged card games. His boys include Jackie Gleason, William Demarest, Phil Silvers, and Frank McHugh - a bunch of characters right out of Damon Runyon if there ever were any. When the baker who makes Gloves' favorite cheesecake is murdered, Gloves is determined to find out what happened. The trail leads to a spy ring run by sinister Conrad Veidt with assistance from Judith Anderson, her dachshund Hansel, and Peter Lorre. Lorre doubles as a pianist for a nightclub singer (Kaaren Verne) whose father is in a concentration camp and being used as leverage so she will assist the spies.

This is a fast-paced, funny film made shortly before Pearl Harbor. Its underlying message is that the Nazis aren't going to be content with a few eastern European countries; they want it all. As propaganda, it goes down easily with a terrific cast and some hilarious moments, particularly when Bogart and Demarest attend a secret meeting posing as Nazis.

The plot, of course, is preposterous, and the notes that Bogart finds in Veidt's desk are, for some reason, written in English instead of German, but none of that takes away from the enjoyment of the movie.

The performances are all excellent, but Bogart is a wonder. His no-nonsense, honest delivery and perfect timing work beautifully in comedy as well as drama.

This is a delightful movie - don't miss it.

A search for the murderer of their friendly neighborhood German baker and a nightclub bouncer leads New York City "sports promoter" (read: bookie) Gloves Donahue (Humphrey Bogart in one of his most entertaining roles) and his sidekicks Sunshine (William Demarest) and Barney (Frank McHugh, or as we affectionately call him, "Annabelle's Husband," in honor of the film's running gag about his character's newlywed status) to a nest of Fifth Columnists with sabotage on their minds, right in the middle of Manhattan! The high concept of this fast, funny, suspenseful Warners adventure is basically "Damon Runyon Meets The Nazis." I especially got a kick out of the breezy, sometimes punny dialogue (like "We'll get them by the seat of their Panzers" and "Hey, there's more here than meets the FBI!") and its delightful euphemisms for Bogie's line of work, such as "man about town and well-known figure in the sporting world." (My late dad was a bookie, so I should know! ;-) Bogart, Demarest, McHugh, and charming leading lady Kaaren Verne are joined by smooth villains Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, and Judith Anderson, and on the good guys' team, Jane Darwell (as Bogie's mom!), Edward Brophy, Barton MacLane, and even a young Phil Silvers and Jackie (C.) Gleason! Alas, Pearl Harbor was still too fresh in 1942 audiences' minds for them to appreciate a quasi-realistic World War 2 spy thriller with broadly humorous overtones. Luckily, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is available on home video and Turner Classic Movies so you modern movie lovers can enjoy this entertaining genre blend!

Actually, this movie is better than most, with a good deal of the credit going to the myriad cast of star-quality actors. I suspect it was part of the Hollywood WWII propaganda stable but the story still resonates today and, just maybe, provides a cautionary tale as well.

Interesting seeing a young and slim Jackie Gleason (billed as Jackie C. Gleason) and noting this was just one of seven movies he was in in 1942! Bogart had perfected his small-town crook role by the time this movie came out. He unwittingly gets involved in a Nazi spy ring and it all begins with his love of a cheesecake made by an old man who is found murdered. The chase for the killer(s) is on...

You cannot watch this movie without smiling at the antics of Frank McHugh, the character actor who endeared himself to many during the 30s and 40s.

Conrad Veidt is phenomenally evil as the Nazi spy and it's important to remember this man actually fled from Germany to reside in England and America, giving all of his monies and salaries to the British Government to fight the Nazi menace. He is always good in the Nazi genre but it surely must have galled him to play these roles on so many occasions when he despised the very people he portrayed. His interaction with the imperious Judith Anderson (later, Dame Judith Anderson) is actually a la film noir at its best.

Excellent cast brings this movie up a notch from the formulaic movies during WWII and this one is well worth watching.

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.