4. Clash By Night
Clash by Night, while filed under the category of film noir, is in many respects paints a different portrait than that of other film noirs. Theres no femme fatale or hard boiled detectives. The location isnt Los Angeles or New York but a fishing village in Monterey, California where Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck, thats right, Barbara again), returns after 10 years. Her brother Joe (Keith Andes) is dating a woman named Peggy (Marilyn Monroe in one of her first big roles). Mae then meets and begins to date a nice local fisherman Jerry DAmato (Paul Douglas). Jerrys friend Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan) is a film projectionist, misogynistic and arrogant. He and Mae have an antagonistic relationship, but the hostility they have towards each other suggests a sexual tension that leads to an affair. Fritz Lang, who had already made the masterpieces Metropolis and M in Germany before moving to Hollywood in the late 1930s, gives the film subtle film noir elements, but the focus in this film is more on the performances than visual style. Stanwyck gives Mae a lot of complexity, showing us a woman whos unsure of what she really wants in life. Ryan is also perfect as a man who masks his vulnerability with arrogance and hatred. Jerry may be the only one of the three main characters who's exactly what he appears to be. Douglas is incredibly sympathetic as Jerry, and his scenes where he is in anger over Mae and Earls betrayal are brutal and realistic. Clash by Night feels a lot grittier and realistic than other films of its time, though that of course comes from the film noir influence. Clash by Night could be called a domestic noir, a noir about average people dealing with the existential dilemmas, not of murder, but of regret, betrayal, and love.