Sun 14 Nov 2010
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: ROADHOUSE NIGHTS (1930).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[14] Comments
ROADHOUSE NIGHTS. Paramount, 1930. Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, Fred Kohler, Jimmy Durante, Fuller Mellish Jr., Leo Donnelly, Tammany Young, Joe King, Lou Clayton, Eddie Jackson. Story by Ben Hecht; screenplay by Garrett Fort based on the novel Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. Director: Hobart Henley. Shown at Cinevent 42, Columbus OH, May 2010.
The casting of the vaudeville team of Durante, Clayton and Moore in this version of Hammett’s classic crime novel will surely make the heart of any film noir fan sink.
(The introduction of a bumpkin sheriff into the Crime Club film The Black Doll, reviewed here, was surely already one example too many of how to ruin a crime novel on screen.)
And the casting of Charles Ruggles, known principally for his skillful handling of comic roles, as an investigative reporter (substituting for Hammett’s Continental Op) is not a choice to arouse much interest in the classic crime film aficionado. So you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that this film was the one I felt the most responsibility to see and the one whose screening I most dreaded.
It starts off well as Hogan (Fuller Mellish Jr.), a reporter on an investigative assignment for his Chicago paper, lights a match to check the address of a house on a dark street.
He knocks, is admitted, and is almost immediately shot by a dark figure. A fellow reporter, Willie Bindbugel (Ruggles), is sent by his editor to check the disappearance of Hagan, who was working on a story on bootlegging in a small town on Lake Michigan.
(In Hammett’s novel, it’s a newspaper publisher who’s murdered just as the Continental Op arrives in the crime-infested city of Personville, known by some of its local inhabitants as Poisonville.)
Much of the action of the film takes place in a roadhouse operated by local crime boss Sam Horner (Fred Kohler), and it’s here that Willie encounters singer Lola Fagan (Morgan), whom he knew years ago and who is now the girl friend of Horner.
The Durante trio is also performing in the roadhouse (and regretting it), but it’s the relationship of Willie and Lola that fuels the real drama of the film, as she struggles to find a way out of the explosive situation created by Willie’s arrival.
As Willie catches on to the viper’s nest he’s fallen into, the events move rapidly toward a climactic scene in which Willie, apparently drunk, calls his editor and as he appears to insult him on line taps out a coded message that alerts the editor to the big shipment of bootleg liquor that’s to be picked up that night.
It’s not a stretch to see the roadhouse standing in for Poisonville, with Willie as a somewhat unlikely but still effective substitution for the Op. But it’s not the traces of Hammett’s novel that keep the film afloat but the adroit performances by Ruggles, Morgan and Kohler make it work.
And, if you’re wondering how the film was received on its release, I can report that excerpts from the New York Times and Variety reviews are, if not glowing, certainly positive.
November 15th, 2010 at 1:32 am
I always wondered about this one, as almost all sources mention is the presence of Ruggles and Durante.
Ironic the number of time RED HARVEST has been ripped off by the movies that the one time it was officially adapted they didn’t use the plot.
I guess Hammett could at least take comfort that they didn’t do any better by Paul Cain’s FAST ONE, turning it into a dramedy GAMBLING SHIP with Cary Grant or Latimer’s MURDER IN A MADHOUSE turned into a comedy with Durante and Andy Devine. You have to wonder why they bought these properties in the first place and then ignored everything that made them worthwhile.
Charlie Ruggles certainly was no one’s idea of the Op, but ironically had been a private detective of sorts in the wake of the great San Francisco earthquake.
Sounds interesting though. Thanks for taking the bullet for the rest of us so we don’t have to go in blind.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Walter
I forgot to ask, does Morgan do any memorable numbers in this one? I’ve only really seen her in James Whale’s version of SHOW BOAT and a few shorts. Does she do any of her signature pieces in this film?
November 15th, 2010 at 3:58 am
There’s a good article about some of the various ripoffs of RED HARVEST on salon.com:
http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2005/02/28/hammett/index.html
It runs through some of the more obvious (but unacknowledged) filmed versions, including Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo,” followed in turn by Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars,” Walter Hill’s “Last Man Standing,” “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” and Ethan & Joel Coen’s “Miller’s Crossing,” before ending with “Deadwood” on HBO.
November 15th, 2010 at 6:56 am
It’s amazing when you realize how many times RED HARVEST has been imitated on film and in print. The number of hard boiled writers that did their version of the story is impressive, and likely it ‘inspired’ an equal number of westerns. Cleve Adams did it at least twice not to mention Ross Macdonald, John D. MacDonald, Mickey Spillane, William Ard, and Brett Halliday.
For that alone it’s one of the most influential books in the field.
November 15th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
David, I’m sorry not to have replied to your query sooner. I’ve been helping the daughter of a friend get books packed for an auction and we just finished today. It’s taken months to pull this off.
I don’t think that Morgan sang any of her signature pieces. Whatever musical numbers there were didn’t stick in my memory, and that’s unusual since I love musicals.
“Applause” is available on DVD and you might be able to find a copy of “Go Into Your Dance,” a Jolson film.
I just checked the AFI Catalog entry for “Roadhouse Nights” and it lists several songs but most of them seem to have been performed by Durante and his crew. I think that Morgan’s number was “It Can’t Go On Like This.” I’m really blanking out on this. She’s quite good in the film but it’s her acting rather than her singing that I remember.
November 15th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Walter
Thanks, I was just curious, her being such a legendary figure. Of course SHOW BOAT features a great performance by her and one of her signature pieces.
It’s always interesting to see these films with Morgan, Ruth Etting, or some of the others featured in those Hollywood bio pics from the fifties — though despite the presence of Paul Newman, Ann Blyth was a rather wan Helen Morgan in that bio pic.
November 16th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Dave, Helen Morgan also shines in an early Republic effort, FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE, opposite Chester Morris. Unfortunately, the casting is the only inspired aspect of a dreary film.
November 16th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Steve,
“Millers Crossing” is “The Glass Key”, no question about it, although I can see why some may think it’s “Red Harvest”. I always thought it was unusual that the Cohen’s didn’t acknowledge Hammett at all, although every review I’ve ever read talks about it.
If anyone reading this has never seen the movie, it bears repeated viewings. John Polito deserved an Oscar for his performance
of Johnny Casper. “Always put one in the brain!” What an actor!!
November 16th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Ironically Leonard Maltin’s film guide has mis-identified THE GLASS KEY as the basis of YOJIMBO for years so turn about seems fair play.
The film rights to Hammett’s works have been tied up for ages which is why LAST MAN STANDING was not acknowledged as being based on RED HARVEST and MILLER’S CROSSING on THE GLASS KEY. Walter Hill wanted to make LAST MAN STANDING as an acknowledged version of RED HARVEST, but could not free up the rights.
At one time Hammett’s works were tied up with Lillian Hellman’s which was some of the problem (she kept many of the short stories out of circulation). Exactly what the tie up is now I don’t know, but it seems to be difficult for even successful directors and producers to get around.
November 17th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
David (and everyone else),
Wouldn’t it be something if HBO decided to do a series based soley on Hammett’s Continental Op stories as written? Taking place in the 20’s & 30’s? Years back they did some very good work on the Philip Marlowe series, I remember. I’m just not sure who would play the Op. Maybe Dennis Franz (who’s probably too old by now anyway). Just one more of my dreams!
October 23rd, 2011 at 12:07 pm
I am confused by the NYT review ( http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE2D91339E03ABC4A51DFB466838B629EDE ) which seems to co-mingle plot details of “Roadhouse Nights” and “Chasing Rainbows” – are they the same film or two different films? I am finding conflicting information on this, perhaps caused by the NYT review.
I have not watched either title film.
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:42 pm
David
I see what you mean. But these are two different films, reviewed in the same column, with the respective credits at the end of each review. Following the credits for ROADHOUSE NIGHTS is where the review for CHASING RAINBOWS begins. That’s how I read it, anyway!
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Thanks, Steve.
There were several movie sites that somehow thought otherwise, but after reading a cleaner copy of the article I agree.
May 10th, 2018 at 3:39 am
David Vineyard,
Roadhouse Nights was not, in fact, an official adaptation. The only writing credits on the film are for Garrett Fort for Continuity and Ben Hecht for Original Screenplay.
David Richoux,
Chasing Rainbows is a movie starring Bessie Love and Jack Benny.