O Segredo do Professor

FLY BY NIGHT was made in 1942, shortly after the USA had joined WWII, and you keep getting messages about buying goods to support the war effort. That said, the action in the movie is as far removed from the war as a mouse from a cat.

Director Siodmak does a good job of keeping the action ticking despite a script that, for the first third, struck me as a clear rip-off of Alfred Hitckcock's THE 39 STEPS (UK 1935), and that includes surprisingly pleasant touches of humor, especially as the couple pretend to be married and see circumstances force them into marriage.

Carlson and Kelly make a handsome and likable leading duo, aided by a good if largely unknown support cast. Photography is of an acceptable standard.

This B pic deserves watching - short, breezy, sweet, no waste of time!

More than "the thirty-nine steps" , Siodmak 's movie will remind you of another HItchcock's work ,"saboteur" ,released the same year ,starring Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane whose characters are close to those of Richard Carlson and Nancy Kelly ;he's a fugitive ,chased by the strong arm of the law and she's dragged (reluctantly ) into the plot by him because "she can sketch a portrait of him,which would help the police".

The chase movie is not Siodmak's field: his is the gangsters saga ("the killers" "criss cross" with plenty of treasons ) or the psychological thriller ("the spiral staircase" "the dark mirror " "black angel" );but he pulls it off efficiently.

There's a lot a humor (the burning cigarettes,the fake wedding) ,plenty of suspense (the loony bin) and never a dull moment in this exciting man/woman hunt.

Of course the ending is exactly what you expect ,but it's the rule of the game.

Saw it when I was in high school and enjoyed the auto driving backwards off the auto-carrier. Am looking for a VHS or DVD copy. Any suggestions. I found out later that this picture was Nancy Kelly's first picture for Paramount. Also believe that Ms Kelly displayed her nice legs at least 2 times ,with Richard Carlson covering them up by pulling down her skirt, as she was lying ,havng fainted, on a couch. I think , if I remember correctly, that Richard Carlson, was a innocent man that got involved and could not help himself. Even though it was ab picture, the director gave it plenty of suspense and action. The best naturally, was the great ending. Naturally , it was a long time ago , but it made quite an impression on me,especially since it was during the War. As I said before , I would be happy to find even a good copy of this film.

During WWII, most of the films coming out of Hollywood seemed to have a strong patriotic angle and many were about either the war or about Axis spies and the like. Some were very good,....many were very jingoistic and poorly written. "Fly-By-Night" is one of the latter films...a movie which entertained folks back in the day but which became very dated very quickly.

The film begins with an escaped mental patient sneaking into the car belonging to Dr. Burton (Richard Carlson). However, he turns out to be quite rational and was being held prisoner in a mental hospital run by Nazis! However, when the man is soon murdered, the police are quick to believe the Doctor did it and they ignore his pleas to investigate the hospital. So, he does something which no human being has ever done but which is COMMON in old B-movies....be pulls a gun on the cops and runs away in order to solve the case himself!! Talk about a B-movie cliche! What follows is predictable and a bit like a bad B-mystery combined with a WWII spy film and Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps". Silly writing make this a film that is easy to skip, even though the folks starring in it were pretty good and gave it their best. Filled with cliches and many plot holes and ridiculous characters....but also, in its own way, mildly entertaining as well.

Director Robert Siodmak did an excellent job with this B thriller, which has some unusual plot twists and ideas in it. Richard Carlson is the lead, and he is extremely well-cast as an innocent and well-meaning bystander who becomes involved in complex intrigues which have nothing to do with him, gets accused of a murder he did not commit, and goes on the run to save his name. He meets the insouciant and charming Nancy Kelly, makes her help him at gunpoint, and they end up being forced to get married by a justice of the peace in order to avoid being killed by some heavies waiting outside with guns, which is certainly a new twist in story lines! The story concerns a new military invention called 'G-32', the secret of which the baddies want to steal. The film opens with the inventor's assistant escaping from a madhouse, where he has been incarcerated by the baddies, though we don't know at first that the man is not really a maniac on the run. He doesn't last long, but before he dies he has compromised poor Richard Carlson and enmeshed him in a web of plotting, spying, and murder. There is an amazing series of scenes where Carlson and Kelly leap from a speeding car onto an auto-carrier, catch a free ride, and then later unfasten the car and reverse it down the ramp while in motion on a highway, and escape in it. Those interested in stunts will be all agog at watching this. The film is good viewing and should be more widely available.