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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Joseph L. Mankeiwicz's
Somewhere in the Night (1946) is a film noir
potboiler elevated to almost 'A' list status by
the central performance of John Hodiak as George
Taylor. Taylor awakens in a Honolulu hospital
without any recollection of his past. Piecing
together his own history from bare snippets of a
letter he discovers in his wallet, Taylor returns
to San Francisco to reclaim his life. He is
prompted by a note written to him, seemingly by a
friend, Larry Cravat, who instructs him to go to a
bank and withdraw five thousand dollars. But there
are problems at the bank and George escapes before
any questions can be asked. In his search for
Larry he stumbles across nightclub chanteuse,
Christy Smith (Nancy Guild)…or is it Mrs. Larry
Cravat. It seems that no one will help poor George
figure out his past. Perhaps that's because it
involves a three-year murder case and heist
horribly gone wrong before the war -- neither of
which George can remember to save his live.
The rest of the performances in this film are
pretty much par for the course of a standard
B-film noir, but Hodiak is selling his bit at
A-list prices. He delivers a solid, compelling and
rather sympathetic characterization that keeps the
film afloat when plot devices seem to fall short
of expectation. Mankiewicz, a masterful director,
keeps up his end on this occasion too -- keeping
his pace taut and fast moving as George slowly
begins to regain bits of his past.
Fox's DVD transfer is fairly admirable. The
grayscale has been sufficiently rendered. Save a
few minor instances where grain briefly intrudes,
the bulk of the print used in this mastering
effort is clean and very nicely contrasted. The
grayscale is bang on. Whites are generally clean.
Black levels are deep. The audio is nicely
represented at an easy listening level. The only
extra of merit is an audio commentary that is
thorough and informative. |
