Sun 26 Jul 2009
A Movie Review: ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT (1944).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[7] Comments
ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT. Columbia, 1944. Chester Morris (Boston Blackie), Janis Carter, Richard Lane, George E. Stone, William Wright, Robert Williams, Mark Roberts, Dorothy Malone (uncredited). Based on the character created by Jack Boyle. Director: Oscar [Budd] Boetticher Jr.
If you were to go back to a review I did quite a while ago, that of Meet Boston Blackie, the first of the series, you’ll see that I wasn’t entirely impressed with it — or if I was, it wasn’t favorably.
I’d happened to have taped a whole run of the Blackie movies at the time, and here it is, over two years later, and last night I finally watched another one, the seventh overall, just so you know where we stand when we start.
And I might as well tell you this frankly. Not even the fact that this was famed Budd Boetticher’s first directorial effort, the first he was given credit for, can save this movie from itself. Bad? Well, maybe not, but let me tell you this, it sure isn’t good.
Blackie in this one is called in by Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) to find a stolen diamond. Working on the side of the law, Blackie still finds the need for disguises and other funny stuff inorder to check out the scene of the crime, for example, as well as a couple of other instances.
But even though he spots how the thief did it within five minutes (and I still don’t believe the guards on duty were really that stupid), he’s spotted so quickly in turn by a ubiquitous blonde reporter (the slim and stunning Janis Carter), that Blackie ought to turn in his license as an unlicensed (and no longer active) crook and go back to the amateur level himself.
There are two things going for this movie, and Janis Carter is one of them, though how she manages to pop up every time the movie needs a boost in another direction, I’ll never know.
The other is the non-stop action that leaves absolutely zero time for reflection on how or why, only ever onward to the next scene.
Connoisseurs of sappy lunkhead comedy crime movies like this one should note that I am not including the so-called alleged humor as one of the positives. Picture this. The two main crooks are standing like dummies (no, I really mean dummies, or manikins, perhaps) in a pawnshop with the owner seriously wounded from a gunshot on the floor, while the two policemen they’re hiding from play cards in front of them while they’re waiting for the ambulance to come.
Well, I suppose you could call it funny. And do you know what? Right now I’m sitting here grinning like a nine-year-old!
July 26th, 2009 at 1:25 am
It’s amazing how different people see things differently, because I recall this as one of the brightest and most brisk films in the series. Granted, like most Columbia B programmers it is flawed by the cheap budget, but I remember Morris as being at his best in this one.
I’ll have to dig out my Boston Blackie tapes and see, but as they say this is what makes horse races. But then again, it being a Columbia series my expectations weren’t especially high.
July 26th, 2009 at 11:51 am
David
I’d agree on “brisk.” The action and activity in this movie simply does not stop.
I’ll demur on “brightest,” though, but maybe I ought to see more of the Blackie movies before passing judgment in that regard.
But after the movie was over — I’d taped it from TCM — Robert Osborne came on and talked about the director, Budd Boetticher, who once told a story, true or not, I don’t know, about a reviewer of the film who said, “This movie wasn’t released, it escaped.”
If/when you watch it again, do report back!
July 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
An impression: the apparently harmless, non-controversial ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT provokes strong reactions in people, pro and con!
I put a detailed (and positive) study of the film’s visual style on my web site. I promptly got criticized by a well-known film scholar who’s a Boetticher expert. He says ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT is a bad movie, and I shouldn’t pay much attention to it!
My notes (mainly on camera-work and style) are at:
http://mikegrost.com/boettich.htm
July 26th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Mike
You’ve done your usual terrific job on identifying the various stylistic techniques that Boetticher used in this movie.
I never notice such things the first time I watch a movie. The first time I concentrate on the story; the second time I try to put the story in context with the staging and camera work; and when (if) I get to a third viewing, I can concentrate solely on the latter.
So far I’ve watched ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT only twice, but that’s enough to make all of your observations strike home.
So I don’t know if I need to watch it a third time. Right now I remember each scene you refer to, and everything you say is right on target.
Even so, I still believe the movie itself is knee deep in the mediocre range, Based on your analysis, though, I’ll have to concede that Boetticher did a lot of good work with some awfully weak material.
— Steve
July 26th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Steve,
The last thing I want to imply is that there is Truth about Boetticher.
The exact opposite is the case.
Very little has actually been written about Boetticher. And that usually resticts itself to a handful of movies (the 7 Randolph Scott Westerns, plus a few others). There is no real consensus about his career. Few ideas about his film techniques. Little look at the great majority of his films…And the public has really only started to pay attention recently, with most of the Scott films coming out on DVD.
The whole situation is odd. Boetticher is famous enough to be mentioned on TCM, and to have two documentaries made about his movies. But no real consensus of any sort.
A confession: I am far from comfortable with any of my own ideas about Boetticher.
So I am eager to read what others think. Responses from other viewers than myself will eventually help break this intellectual log-jam.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Mike
Using IMDB as a source, I’ve put together a list of all of Boetticher’s full-length films. I hope it’s complete, but I’ll correct it if I left any out.
I’ve deliberately omitted all of his work for television except for one film that was later released to theaters.
I’ve also not included a couple of documentaries he made.
I’ve not seen most of these. Most of them are rather obscure, relatively speaking, or so it seems to me. (By this I mean that if he had not made them, they would probably be even more obscure.)
The seven westerns he made with Randolph Scott I’ve indicated with a *RS* designation.
Many of these are available on DVD,perhaps even most of them. I’ll try obtaining copies of all that I can and review them here as I do.
There are quite few movies here, so for me, this will be long term project. As Mike says, responses from others would be welcomed with open arms.
Submarine Raider (1942) (uncredited)
U-Boat Prisoner (1944) (uncredited)
One Mysterious Night (1944) (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
The Missing Juror (1944) (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
Escape in the Fog (1945) (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
The Fleet That Came to Stay (1945) (as Oscar Boetticher)
A Guy, a Gal and a Pal (1945) (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
Youth on Trial (1945) (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
Assigned to Danger (1948) (as Oscar Boetticher)
Behind Locked Doors (1948) (as Oscar Boetticher)
Black Midnight (1949) (as Oscar Boetticher)
The Wolf Hunters (1949) (as Oscar Boetticher)
Killer Shark (1950) (as Oscar Boetticher)
The Three Musketeers (1950) (made for TV; released theatrically as Sword of D’Artagnan)
Bullfighter and the Lady [Torero] (1951)
Bronco Buster (1952)
The Cimarron Kid (1952)
Horizons West (1952)
Red Ball Express (1952)
City Beneath the Sea (1953)
East of Sumatra (1953)
The Man from the Alamo (1953)
Seminole (1953)
Wings of the Hawk (1953)
The Magnificent Matador (1955)
The Killer Is Loose (1956)
Seven Men from Now (1956) *RS*
Decision at Sundown (1957) *RS*
The Tall T (1957) *RS*
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) *RS*
Ride Lonesome (1959) *RS*
Westbound (1959) *RS*
Comanche Station (1960) *RS*
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)
A Time for Dying (1969)
July 27th, 2009 at 12:11 am
While Boetticher has been recognized for a while I think he is only now being “discovered.” And really, the same is true of Victor Fleming who got his first major book only this year.
Boetticher fell in the slack between the big name western directors like Ford and Hawks and the last western directors like Peckinpah and Eastwood. And in part because he worked so often with Randolph Scott he didn’t get the attention he might otherwise have drawn. It took a bit of hindsight to realize just how well done those films were.
In many ways the Boetticher cult is only now being created. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a major book on him was in the works though.
Re One Mysterious Night, compared to some of the Boston Blackie films it is outstanding, but I think the really brisk pace of the film probably seemed like an injection of fresh blood in a tiring series, though there are other entries directed by Michael Gordon and Edward Dmytryk. Leonard Maltin lists it as a three star film, but I mostly remember it as being fast enough paced to be a superior entry in a tiring series.
The last time I watched the Blackie films it was in a marathon and by the time I got to this one the pace alone may have warped my judgment a bit.
That said, if you have never read the book of related short stories by Jack Boyle you should try them. There is a bit of old fashioned melodrama there, but also something of the earliest suggestion of the hard boiled school.