Deadline at Dawn

Terrific performances by many actors make this 1946 noir a joy to watch. Nifty murder mystery directed by Harold Clurman and written by Clifford Odets. As mentioned elsewhere on this board the dialog is wondrous; you never know what anyone will say, and everyone seems to "wax philosophic" throughout the film.

The action follows a murder of a woman and how it involves a sailor on leave, a dance-hall girl, and a taxi driver. The story takes place on a sweltering New York night in the early hours. The sailor must catch a 6 AM bus, so there's the "deadline at dawn." As the protagonists track down clues, they run across a bizarre collection of shady types, and everyone seems to to capable of murder, especially of this particular woman.

Susan Hayward gives a stunning performance as June. She starts out as a wisecracking and downhearted taxi dancer who resists getting involved but can't help herself since the sailor (Bill Williams) seems so innocent and naive. She calls him Boob McNutt. As they race around the city tracking down clues (this city never sleeps) they meet a world-weary taxi driver (Paul Lukas) who helps out. All three stars give amazing performances here.

Supporting players are also a knockout with Lola Lane terrific as the victim, Joseph Calleia as her creepy brother, Osa Masson (with a limp), and Marvin Miller, Jerone Cowan, Constance Worth, Al Bridge, Steven Geray, Joseph Crehan and others all solid.

Odets' writing is excellent even if all the characters seem to talk in the same poetic language. But it becomes mesmerizing as the characters seek the truth and talk. It seems that everyone is city wise but a poet at heart.

Hayward looks great with her hair pinned up (it's a sultry night) with bobby pins. She wears little makeup. Williams is also wonderful as the sailor who's not quite as dumb as he seems. Lukas is also solid as the surprising taxi driver.

Great film noir with touches of poetry and humor. What more could you want?

Deadline at Dawn (1946)

If you can overcome, or overlook, the slightly stilted plot and the improbability of the events (in an O'Henry kind of way, if you know his clever short stories, though the actual writer is Clifford Odets, whose politics are not very visible), you'll be able to catch the really fine acting and directing here. And the nicely felt night crime drama that is really just a beautiful sappy love story (the best kind). The cast is small, the plot twists unreasonable but still enchanting, and the effect, in the end, is tightly wound.

While you might think the murder is the central premise (and it's key, for sure), or the sailor's blackout is the main event (and it isn't, really), you will eventually see it's the sailor himself, his utter innocence, that is both the core of the film and the driving force. This is the Odets part of the writing, character driven, and the sailor, through some effect of drinking we assume, has had a brief blackout, and he comes to his senses on the streets of New York with a lot of cash in his pocket. He's troubled, but we sympathize. Then a woman he was with is found dead. Still, this sailor is such the definition of innocence, there's no doubt--almost no doubt--that someone else did it. But who? And how can he defend himself?

Enter Susan Hayward, playing at first a kind of professional dance companion (the innocent side of prostitution, and a good match for our man). After work, she wants to help him because he's so clearly a good person, and then a cabbie strangely gets involved, too, sucked into the idea that justice will go wrong if the real killer can't be found. The dead woman had a couple of unsavory friends, and these two get into the plot in stages, and what we end up with is half a dozen clearly defined people all fighting for some small piece of personal clarity and internal well being.

It helps that all the actors are first rate small time contributors (Hayward is the one star, and is terrific). It also helps that the whole scenario is limited in time and space, so we get to feel like we are there, in New York, in this small neighborhood at night. It's great stuff on that level alone. The director? It's his one and only film. But the cinematographer was an old pro at the peak of his career, Nicholas Musuraca, who did a whole slew of noirs and dramas, some worth seeing just for the photography ("Spiral Staircase" comes to mind, but see the IMDb list). So whatever the small time credentials of much of the cast, there is some seriousness here that won't let go.

If the plot is a little preposterous, it's only because it's trying to package things too neatly. The writing is first rate, beyond plot structure, with some classic quotable lines that are either film noir staples or philosophical nuggets (the latter from the cabby, in particular). A film that would reward a second viewing just for the details of dialog and camera-work.

The real star of this underappreciated noir is Clifford Odets' dialogue, which you either love or you hate. I love it. Really terrific performances, and even the bit players are memorable. Look for Group Theater vet Roman Bohnen in a tiny role as the building janitor with a dead cat-- "she could practically speak." Or Jerome Cowan, a B-movie actor in a zillion Forties flicks, wonderfully slimy as a Broadway producer. Filmed on a backlot, but it seethes New York more than most location movies.

Little know post-WWII Film-Nior gem set in New York City on a hot sweltering summer night with one of the most unusual murder mysteries you'll ever see. The movie starts out with Sleepy Parsons, Marvin Miller, pleading with his estranged wife Edna, Lola Lane, for the $1,400.00 that she owes him. Edna after insulting the poor blind and very sick man Sleepy finds out that the money, Sleepy's $1,400.00, that she had in her purse is gone! what happened to it?

Earlier that evening Edna met this young sailor Alex, Bill Williams,on leave at a restaurant that her gangster brother Val Bartelli, Joseph Calleia, owned. After getting him drunk Val cheated him, playing cards, out of his pay. The story got even weirder when Edna telling Alex that she'll pay him to goes up to her place to fix her radio, Alex is a radio repairman in the navy, and got the poor slob even more drunk where he lost consciousness. waking up at a news stand after being given a cup of strong coffee by the newspaper man to clear his mind Alex staggered up on his feet a wad of $1,400.00 falls out of his pocket, where did it come from?

Going to a dance-hall later that night Alex gets very friendly with a local dance girl June, Susan Hayward. After June finished dancing with the costumers Alex goes with June to her place to have a bite to eat. At June's place Alex gets this bright idea to go back to where Edna lives and return the $1,400.00 ,which he feels is hers, with June coming along for the ride. When both get there they find, to their surprise and shock, that Edna was murdered, who did it? was it Alex? was it Sleepy? was it about a half dozen other suspects who had some connection with Edna? All I can say about the movie is that it will floor you with an ending that you won't see coming and even when it does! It will take you a while to realize what you missed in the clues that were so skillfully dropped leading to it all throughout the film.

"Deadline at Dawn" is one of those films that just sticks with you right from the start. Even though there's a number of flaws in it you easily overlook them when you realize that it's going in a direction that will more then make up for them, with it's almost unbelievable ending. Paul Lukas as NYC Cabbie, Gus Hoffman,is at first just an innocent bystander who picks up the couple, Alex & June.

As the movie goes on he becomes more and more central to the story by being more of a detective then a taxi driver as well as having the knowledge of a Ivy League Collage professor! whats this guy doing driving a cab? As the trio slowly work together time is running out to find out not only who murdered Edna but to also clear Alex of the crime, in which he's the prime suspect, and at the same time make it possible for Alex to catch the 6;00AM bus to Norfolk Virginia to report to his ship.

Powerful and surprising ending that has elements to it that you just rarely see in movies today and never in movies back then, in the 1940's. It really has you thinking about what is really good and bad in the world. Like I said before the ending just floored me not that it was so surprising, it was, but that it shows just how human and imperfect people are in the movie as well as they are in real life.

Explosive lighting by cinematographer Nick Murasaca; a twisty, turning plot by mystery writer Cornell Woolrich; literate dialogue with heart from playwright Clifford Odets; and an estimable ensemble cast of fine character actors, plus a young, beautiful, and surprisingly effective Susan Hayward -- it all adds up to make this a little film noir gem.

It's a very New York piece, though it's also an example of RKO Pictures at its Hollywood best. And yet, for a film noir, there's a surprising sweetness, a current of innocence personified by the sailor boy accused of murder in a nocturnal urban jungle of violence, betrayal and corruption.

Highly recommended.