Product Details

• Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe, J. Carrol Naish
• Directors: Fritz Lang
• Writers: Alfred Hayes, Clifford Odets
• Producers: Harriet Parsons, Jerry Wald, Norman Krasna
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: August 13, 1996
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304119089
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,048 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Barbara Stanwyck plays a hardened woman returning from big-city life to her northern fishing village in this 1952 film noir. After deciding to settle down, she marries a simple man (Paul Douglas) but is wooed by another (Robert Ryan), a circumstance that turns what had been her choice into her trap. Director Fritz Lang (Metropolis, M, The Big Heat), working from a Clifford Odets story, teases out his pet themes about human beings ensnared in fate by their own impulses and in search of redemption. This is not one of Lang's masterpieces, but it is very good in an Anna Christie way. Stanwyck and Ryan, two indispensable figures in the noir genre, are tough as nails. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fritz Lang Brings Documentary Realism to Clifford Odets., August 25, 2005

By 

mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Clash by Night (DVD)

Director Fritz Lang opens "Clash by Night" with a violent crashing of waves that sets the audience on edge and foreshadows the inner turbulence of the film's protagonist, Mae Doyle. This is followed by an extended documentary sequence that was filmed on location in Monterey, California, illustrating the daily routine in the fishing town. Boats come in with their catch; their crews unload the fish; and the cannery processes them. It's a memorable sequence, and I was surprised to find it in this relationship drama. Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) has returned to town after a 10-year absence that left her disillusioned with life, love and the plans she had. Her brother Joe (Keith Anders) works on a fishing boat owned by Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas), a cheerful, simple-minded man who is smitten with Mae. Joe's good friend Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan) couldn't be more different. He's misogynistic, lecherous, and deeply needy. Mae is attracted and repulsed by the cynicism that she sees in Earl and shares with him. She'd like a man like Jerry to take care of her, but knows she could never be satisfied with that.

"Clash by Night" is based on the play by Clifford Odets, and it's fun to try to pick out the lines that sound like Odets by their affectedness. Usually the actors deliver the lines casually, so they don't sound too histrionic. I found that the film's strength is its documentary-like qualities, which don't end after the introductory sequence. The vignettes of working class life and conversations about family matters lend the film an authenticity that it really needs considering that Barbara Stanwyck' s glamour and forcefulness seem as out of place in that town as her character professes to feel. Robert Ryan was a terrific character actor who could just as easily be sympathetic or loathsome, and he's convincingly obnoxious here. It's not clear if Earl is suffering from feelings of inferiority or superiority, but he's an overbearing, moody, insufferable jerk. "Clash by Night" was the first film in which Marilyn Monroe had billing above the title. She's beautiful and youthful as Joe's feisty girlfriend Peggy, even if she had trouble with her lines, as Fritz Lang claimed. "Clash by Night" is a bit of melodrama, I suppose, in which people's needs and desires clash with life's realities. But strong performances and a realistic environment make it an interesting film.

The DVD (Warner Brothers 2005): There is an occasional flaw, but this is generally a good print. Bonus features are a theatrical trailer (2 ½ minutes) and an audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich and Fritz Lang. Most of the commentary is Bogdanovich. Occasional brief contributions from Lang were recorded by Peter Bogdanovich in 1965 when he was interviewing Lang for his book "Fritz Lang in America". It's a good commentary in which Bogdanovich provides scene-by-scene comments on the actors, characters, dialogue, filming anecdotes, and, of particular interest to me, analysis of some of the longer shots and cuts. Subtitles for the film are available in English, Spanish, and French.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A drama many years ahead of its time!, July 27, 2005

By 

Daniel C. Markel (Rosharon, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clash by Night (DVD)

This review is for the 2005 Warner Brothers DVD.

The storyline revolves around Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwick) who returns to a Northern California fishing community after a ten-year hiatus. She left that town hoping to find a wealthy or prestigious man to marry, but her dreams never materialized. Upon returning she runs into an old acquaintance, Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas), at a bar and they later start dating even though they have very little in common. Jerry is hardworking and stable, yet a boring simpleton. Mae is fickle and shallow. Jerry introduces Mae to his best friend Earl (Robert Ryan) who is cantankerous yet very extroverted - pretty much the exact opposite of Jerry. From this point on in the movie, the human dynamics these three people go all over the map and develop into an enthralling plot for the viewer.

I was initially taken off guard with the way the film ended, but I couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of the day and realized it took a very brave direction with the issues it confronted. Furthermore, the movie is probably more representative of today's social landscape than it was when the film was made and has some hard-hitting commentary for the consequences of people's actions. There is however, one scene that is clearly politically incorrect by today's standards where Earl imitates a Chinese person. The movie also contained some refreshing scenes of a young Marilyn Monroe who plays the girlfriend of Mae's brother. Overall I give the film a solid recommendation for viewing.

The DVD is remastered but not restored and as a result, the black and white transfer is sharp but occasionally tiny spots of film deterioration can be observed. The sound is fine. The DVD comes with commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, with audio interview excerpts of director Fritz Lang.

PLEASE NOTE: Before buying this DVD, consider buying the Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2 which contains this movie plus four other highly recommended movies at a very reasonable price.


Movie: B

DVD Quality: B

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SMOLDERING MELODRAMA. RYAN AND STANWYCK EXQUISITE!!!!!!!, November 25, 2006

By 

F. Jarlett "Movie Maniac" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Clash by Night (DVD)

Most reviewers of this film seem to have 'gotten it' with respect to the film's undeniable stance in both Robert Ryan and Fritz Lang's careers. Both celebrities enjoy considerable cult status, and they united for the film, which, along with Barbara Stanwyck's jaded portrait of a fallen woman, achieved a cinema realism that was rare in those days. The film was another example of RKO's attempts to bring outstanding films to the screen. One would be hard pressed to find another studio that so consistently sought artistic merit, dissimilar from studios like Warner Brothers, which catered more to mass interest.

The love triangle involving Ryan, Stanwyck and Paul Douglas, seems entirely plausible then and now. It is amazing to see that the sexual attraction between Ryan and Stanwyck was conveyed without the de rigueur explicit romp in the hay that predominates any film made in the last thirty years. If the viewer wants to see some real sexual tension without the overtness viewers are subjected to these days to get them to watch what's out there, simply watch the scene in which Ryan and Stanwyck engage in a short but heated embrace. One doesn't need to see anything more than Stanwyck's hand clutching Ryan's bare back underneath his T-shirt to envision what happens next.

The addition of secondary players, Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes, likewise didn't need to achieve its sexual effect in the blatant manner employed in films these days. J. Carrol Naish's devilish Uncle Vince was also a tour de force for this wonderful character actor, and Silvio Minciotti effectively portrayed Paul Douglas's lonely widowed father.

Add to these dynamics a wonderful screenplay, sharply written and without a maudlin word to it. Lang's direction is, without question, faultless, and I can't think of a false move anywhere in the film. Paul Douglas ably portrays the thankless role of the cuckolded husband, and he engenders sympathy for his trusting nature.

However, above all, this is an example of another RKO film in which Robert Ryan's presence elevates the proceedings from a B grade to an A+ grade. The scene in which he is seen at his most intensely lonely moment needs to be seen to be appreciated, when his character, the lonely Earl Pfeiffer, is scorned by Stanwyck's Mae Doyle at her wedding. His descent downstairs at the wedding reception is a classic 'Ryan' vignette of him enacting the quintessential 'film noir' spirit of desperate loneliness, a scene that sticks in one's mind far into the future after the movie is over. In fact, every scene involving Ryan is amazing, and it doesn't seem possible that anyone could find fault with his performance, unless their judgment is seriously lacking.