Destin dans la nuit

I was expecting some sort of mystery or suspense film, but I didn't get one.

House Across the Bay stars Joan Bennett, George Raft, and Walter Pidgeon. It's from 1940, and it's an independent film produced by Bennett's husband, Walter Wanger, he of the itchy trigger finger.

The story concerns a gangster, Steve (Raft) who falls hard for a performer, Brenda (Bennett) at one of his clubs, and they get married. They have a wonderful time together. He showers her with gifts, they attend a lot of social events. It's a real whirlwind.

When Raft is shot at, Bennett thinks it might be better for him to plead to tax evasion, which his lawyer Slant (Lloyd Nolan) says will get him one year. She thinks it's worth it so he will be protected.

Little does Brenda know, Slant is not only a crook, but he's in love with her and wants Steve out of the way. So she's surprised when Steve gets 10 years and is sent to Alcatraz, probably joining fellow gangster Al Capone.

Brenda takes an apartment that looks out over Alcatraz, as it helps her to feel closer to Steve. She makes some friends, one of whom is Glenda Farrell, whose husband is also incarcerated. And one day she meets a very successful aircraft manufacturer and pilot, Tim (Pidgeon), and he falls in love with her. This is one woman who never had a problem getting dates.

Brenda stays faithful, but she's attracted to Tim. Problems arise - big ones.

Raft was a friend of the Wangers, although he walked off the set once. When he returned, the director, Archie Mayo, was gone. As a favor, Hitchcock stepped in and directed some of the airplane scenes.

I was disappointed. I thought this film was pretty routine, though I like all of the actors. Raft was a smooth actor and despite all that tough guy stuff, he demonstrated some warmth. Nolan was great as the calculating Slant. Bennett, as always, was lovely. I was in an elevator with her once -- she was elderly by then, her hair still black, beautiful blue eyes, and very tiny. She was a real glamour girl, along with her sister Constance.

Raft was responsible for Humphrey Bogart's career, and in the end, I think that was okay. He would never have had the layers Bogart did in playing the roles he turned down, as he was advised to do by his astrologer. Unfortunately she didn't look too far into the future.

While Warner Brothers had nothing for George Raft to do they lent him in 1940 to Walter Wanger for an independent production that Wanger released through United Artists, The House Across The Bay. The bay is San Francisco Bay and the house is an apartment that Joan Bennett takes on Telegraph Hill that faces Alcatraz where Raft is incarcerated for what Al Capone was also there for, income tax evasion. Bennett still wants to feel somewhat connected to her man out on the island in the bay.

Right around this time Raft made the first of several career blunders in turning down some pretty good films, in this case it was High Sierra which certainly gave Humphrey Bogart a boost. So instead of doing High Sierra, Raft wound up in this rather unbelievable film.

For a guy who was supposed to be a smart gangster George Raft is one incredible fool in this one. He meets and marries Joan Bennett who was an entertainer at one of his clubs. When Raft gets shot at by some business competitors, he allows himself to take some lawyerly and wifely advice from Bennett and his lawyer Lloyd Nolan. Of course Nolan has an agenda all his own which not only includes taking Bennett from Raft, but also his money. Nolan tanks the defense and Raft winds up with ten years on the Rock for income tax evasion. I'm sure he and Al Capone must have commiserated some while there.

Bennett is loyal and true blue, but she's feeling a bit antsy and also attracted to aircraft manufacturer Walter Pidgeon whom she meets by accident. After that the plot takes some unbelievable turns.

Joan Bennett and her husband Walter Wanger were friends of George Raft, The House Across The Bay in fact was the third of four films she did with him. She also wrote the forward to George Raft's biography, The George Raft File. She described Raft as moody and temperamental and trying to break away from his gangster persona. This sure wasn't the film to do it. But that he was also a polished gentleman and proud of the fact he'd raised himself to stardom after a childhood in Hell's Kitchen in New York. She also said he was a marvelous dancer and that when Wanger and she were out on the town and met Raft at some nightclub, he would always ask Wanger for a dance with his wife. A good idea since Wanger later shot someone paying attention to Joan Bennett.

According to Bennett, Raft did walk off the film, but later did come back only to find that director Archie Mayo also walked off it just before shooting the finale. Alfred Hitchcock came in and shot the last scene with no credit as a favor.

Bennett and Raft and in fact all the cast have seen better days. They look bored with the film and Pidgeon loaned out from MGM as Raft was from Warner Brothers has little to do, but be a noble pal to Bennett. Lloyd Nolan always is good even in the worst films and Gladys George as the unofficial chairperson of a fraternity of visiting Alcatraz women is outstanding in the film. She's another one who always is.

Raft turned down High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca all at Warner Brothers and instead wound up doing this. Well at least Humphrey Bogart made out fine in the deal.

Beautiful lounge singer Joan Bennett (as Brenda "Lucky" Bentley) marries racketeer businessman George Raft (as Steve Larwitt). The two are blissfully in love, but his criminal past spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Thinking prison will protect Mr. Raft from rival gangsters, Ms. Bennett helps the F.B.I. put him behind bars. But, she tearfully regrets it when Raft is sentenced to ten years at Alcatraz. The frame-up is engineered by Raft's sneaky aide Lloyd Nolan (as Slant Kolma), who wants Bennett for himself. She rejects Mr. Nolan and rents "The House Across the Bay" from Alcatraz, to be close to Raft. Enter Walter Pidgeon (as Tim Nolan).

Producer Walter Wanger does a wonderful job showcasing bride Bennett in this crime thriller. Bennett is stunningly presented, and acts well, too. Others in the cast are also very strong, but it would have been nice to tie Mr. Pidgeon's aviation character in with Raft's somehow - perhaps as a wronged business partner or old acquaintance. Boozy blonde Gladys George (as Mary) lends notable support. Director Archie Mayo and photographer Merritt Gerstad do an excellent job - the three prison meeting scenes are marvelously staged - with help from assistant directors Charles Kerr and Alfred Hitchcock.

******* The House Across the Bay (3/1/40) Archie Mayo ~ Joan Bennett, George Raft, Lloyd Nolan, Gladys George

Steve (raft) is a gangsta, who runs a speakeasy. But when he gets sent off to alcatraz, brenda (joan bennett) is determined to stick by him. Until she starts spending time with businessman tim nolan. So steve busts out. But where will they go? They have no money, no plan. No spoilers here. Lots of action in the first half. Big buildup, then an abrupt ending. All of sudden. It's watchable. Entertainment... from the film production code age. Lots of footage of san francisco, the bridges, alcatraz. Smaller roles for lloyd nolan, walter pidgeon, june knight. Directed by archie mayo. He had done petrified forest. Bennett would later marry producer walter wanger.

The House Across the Bay (1940)

By 1940 the gangster film, and the related prison film, have been pretty well explored, and here the clichés are on display. It's all done well, with good acting, but there is a sense of dull familiarity to it. I can only imagine, as WWI is breaking out in Europe, how much this movie might have looked worn and dull. In fact, it lost a lot of money for Warner Bros. and didn't do leading man George Raft any favors professionally.

Just as Humphrey Bogart was coming into his great fame in the early 1940s, Raft was falling from a routine stardom in the 1930s into a kind of lesser echo career of Bogart's for the 1940s. Because Raft never was and never will be Bogart, there's something missing to this gangster drama that is partly due to Raft's lack of screen presence.

This isn't actually a Warner Bros. production even though Raft was on contract to them. This is produced by independent producer Walter Wanger (who had just done "Stagecoach" in 1939 and was about to produce "The Long Voyage Home"). And in a way this film marks the end of Raft's fame as a leading leading man. The other leads include Joan Bennett, not a great crime female but a good actress and she holds her own. A third lead is the ever-likable and easy going Lloyd Nolan, who plays friend and lawyer to Raft and to Bennett once Raft gets in trouble.

The only copy I know of for this movie is a weak one (on Netflix) probably made for television release, and the filming and mood of the movie are really excellent. You just can't quite appreciate it here, and unfortunately, this mood is partly what makes the movie click. There are some great archetypes to check off, including good old Alcatraz, though some of the setwork for these scenes is cheap looking. "The food in Leavenworth is much better," says one wife on the boat back to San Francisco.

This is an unexpected turning point of the movie, and weirdly enough, it's the real substance of it. Because, in fact, the house across the bay is the place on Telegraph Hill that Bennett has rented to look out over the bay to the prison. A second kind of plot grows up exactly halfway through as Bennett waits out Raft's prison term. Walter Pidgeon joins Bennett and also Gladys George (another inmate wife) in what is a more mainstream kind of drama and I liked this part of the film a lot. It's fun and has lots of minor little twists and a bit of a love story.

Expect nothing deep or superb here. A little bit of the WWII aspects are probably patched on last minute (some chitchat about gun mounts), but it does give this part of the movie some edge over the George Raft part. In the air sequence you'll see one of the first aerial views of the Golden Gate Bridge in Hollywood (the bridge was finished in 1937).

The final scenes of the movie are dramatic and not a bit believable, but it's just part of the drama and go for it. A whole mixture of things go slightly wrong throughout, keeping this from being the big drama it was trying to be. But there are lots of good aspects, too, especially for lovers of this era. Just hope they come up with a better transfer by the time you see it.