Clash by Night

Mae comes back after many years to the fishing town where she was born. She does not say where she has been or what she was doing; she has no money and nowhere to go. Jerry is a fisherman; calm, well meaning and in love with her. She marries him, not out of love but to build an order. They have a child. Jerry's friend Earl runs the projector at the cinema; sour, sardonic, his own marriage over. Something begins between Mae and Earl and both of them know what it is. Fritz Lang directs. Barbara Stanwyck plays Mae, Paul Douglas plays Jerry and Robert Ryan plays Earl. Marilyn Monroe is also in the cast. The source is Clifford Odets's play. Monroe was not yet known when this was made and has a supporting part; when she became a star after shooting she was pushed forward in the publicity. The opening section was shot like documentary; real work is shown on the fishing boats and in the cannery. The matter it works at is the difference between security and desire; Mae says so openly and the film does not judge her. Lang's visual work concentrates in narrow spaces and the house scenes feel enclosed. Barbara Stanwyck's playing carries the film and the character never goes on the defensive. The ending conforms to the assumptions of the period and softens the hardness of the narrative. Who it is for: viewers who like fifties American drama and Lang. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, the dialogue close to theatre, and the ending conciliatory.