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Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I was not familiar with this film when it turned up on TCM, but I'm glad I didn't skip over it. It's a darned good "sort of" film noir, which for the most part seems rather realistic.Henry Fonda is excellent here as a WWII vet for whom things quickly go down hill, despite being well-liked by virtually everyone. And that's why his performance is so good -- he plays a wide variety of emotions here -- joy, love, despair, anger -- each done effectively.Barbara Bel Geddes made her film debut here, having come from Broadway. She was always a very different actress, as you see here, but quite effective. Ann Dvorak has an odd role here as a sort of "the other woman", and former state assistant to a magician. She is quite effective, as well. I'm not sure what to make of Vincent Price here. As the magician, and a liar, he is quite creepy, but I can't quite decide on the quality of his performance. One problem is that his makeup is quite distracting, and I think poorly done. So while he is supposed to be older and more mature, his skin looks very young while his hair is gray.One of the things that was done very effectively here was the telling of the story through flashbacks, including at one point a double-flashback! That technique is, in my view, often overdone. But here it is the perfect way to tell the whole story. Bravo to the screenwriters and the director! The score for this film is supposed to be notable...by Dimitri Tiompkin. Well, I don't see it as being notable...just overly loud and oppressive. And, that's odd. A film score is meant to compliment a film, not overpower it. And, I generally like Dimitri Tiompkin.Although the ending is not quite satisfying, this is a very good film that will keep you watching! Recommended.

I've seen bad movies. This is not a poorly made movie. But it's bad nonetheless.Why? I asked myself as I sat through it, never bored for one minute. The black and white cinematography is often quite good. The acting, at least Henry Fonda's and Vincent Price's, is good, given what they had to work with.The script, certainly, is terrible. Far too many things don't make sense. At the end, when all those men down below are calling up to Fonda saying that they're his friend and that they will help him, you remember that in all that preceded the end he had been shown as a loner with no friends. Where did all those very devoted friends come from all of a sudden? And how could Barbara Bel Geddes' character be so naïve as to go on trips with a man who had "forced his affections on her"? There is a limit to innocence, after all.I kept having the feeling that there was a LOT of script that had for some reason never been shot, that we were missing out on a lot of details that would have made sense of some of what remained.I honestly can't think of any reason to recommend this movie to anyone. I very much like Anatole Litvak's better movies - that's why I rented this one - but even so I found this very disappointing. Maybe if you're a fanatic about b&w cinematography you could ignore the plot and just watch the picture. Best to turn off the sound if you do.I can't imagine why anyone would have made this movie, nor how anyone could have imagined it stood any chance of making any money.Postscript: Having now seen the French original on which this movie was very closely based, Le jour se lève, I understand the reason the script of the American one so often makes no sense: puritanism. In the French movie, the young woman, Françoise, has evidently had an on-again, off-again affair with the animal trainer (Vincent). Jean Gabin's character, the one played by Henry Fonda, finds out about it. In fact, he shoots the animal trainer (Vincent Price's character) when this latter threatens to tell him about their sex life together.The French movie is very beautiful, a real masterpiece. Everything makes sense. Including the end, which is the one thing they completely changed for the American version. I won't spoil the French movie by telling you what it is, but I will say that it is both very powerful and astoundingly beautifully filmed.Don't waste your time on The Long Night. Yes, there are some good touches in it, but by the time they have taken all the sex out, what remains makes no sense. See Le jour se lève. It's a powerful masterpiece.And if you have seen The Long Night, make SURE you see Le jour se lève. The very different end will overwhelm you, as it just did me.

I've never seen the original French film upon which this film was based, but I can tell you I kept waiting for a plot line payoff that never came. It has everything going for it - solid cast giving good believable performances, good direction, even a good speech that Fonda's character delivers from this broken out window as he is under siege by the police that gives us some insight into what it's like for an average guy who has returned home from years of killing and seeing killing in the war expected to pick up where he left off. But ultimately, I never see anything that Fonda's character, factory laborer Joe Adams, has been put through as far as shock or emotional torment or even disillusionment that would justifiably cause him to kill a man. Is Vincent Price's character Maximillian eloquently taunting and creepy? Yes, and in a way that Price excelled at over the years starting in noirs and proceeding on into his horror films. However, at no time does he do anything that would drive anybody to do more than shoo him away or stuff earplugs in their ears or possibly call the ASPCA (You'll have to watch the film to understand this last remark). I'm giving this film a five just for the fact that I believe the production code is the reason any hard edges that seem to be just under the surface never appear. I'm almost positive the script would have gone further if the censors would have allowed it to be so.The real point of interest to me was the action of the police, who behave a lot like the fascists that Joe Adams spent years fighting in WWII. Sure they have a murderer holed up in his rented room, but he's holding no hostages, they've emptied the building, and still they spray him twice with automatic gunfire unannounced - once from the outside into his window, then from the stairwell into the door. When he pushes a sturdy dresser against the door and they realize they can't force their way in THEN they try talking to Joe, starting with the line "We're not fooling"?? No kidding! After Fonda's speech to the crowd, once the crowd starts voicing their support for Joe and promising financial help with a lawyer the police form a line and practically trample the crowd forcing them out of the street. I don't know if the heavy handedness of the police was something that Litvak wanted the audience to notice, but it was something I noticed.I'd recommend this one just for the good performances and atmosphere and some imagery you don't see that much in films immediately after WWII, but don't expect something shocking or even interesting to happen just because of all of the talent assembled here.

Americanized version of "Le Jour se Leve" from 1939 has Henry Fonda cast as a straight-laced boarding-house resident who is taunted and prodded by the decadent magician who has eyes for his well-scrubbed girlfriend, resulting in violence. Peculiar melodrama (with noir-ish overtures) has flashes of grit and atmosphere to spare, but a plot rife with flashbacks (one of which overlaps into another). Some amazing moments, but it feels watered-down, blunted. The emotional state of the street crowd outside Fonda's window isn't used to point up the central action--they seem to gather only to hear Henry make a corny, impassioned speech. Nevertheless, Fonda does well with an atypical character, though Vincent Price's shady showman and Barbara Bel Geddes' love-interest are left deprived by the weak writing. It certainly looks good, and the finale doesn't tidy things up too much. ** from ****