"One Crowded Night" is a pretty good B-movie from RKO. Now what I mean when I call it a B-movie is that in the old days of double- features, the shorter film was called the B-film. The Bs were usually between 55-65 minutes long, had a cast featuring a few minor stars (if any) and had a low budget compared to the A-picture. Many folks assume Bs are synonymous with bad...but sometimes Bs were as good or better than the featured film. In the case of "One Crowded Night", despite its humble status as a B, it's better than quite a few A-pictures I have seen.
The story is set in a restaurant/hotel in the outskirts of the Mojave desert. In many ways, it's like the place featured a few years earlier in "The Petrified Forest" but in California instead of nearby Arizona. The place ends up being like the Love Boat or the Grand Hotel...a location where all sorts of soap opera-like stories unfold. One involves a family in hiding, another about an escaped con trying to clear his name, another with a young mother having a difficult childbirth and the disgraced doctor forced to help her. None of the stories are brilliant but all are well handled and interesting. Overall, a very well written B and despite mostly small-time actors, they gave it their best. And, incidentally, the finale is very nice.
