Somewhere in the Night (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Somewhere in the Night (1946) – J. L. Mankiewicz

One of the better early noirs, with John Hodiak playing an amnesiac World War II vet who doesn’t reveal his condition after finding a note that suggests that he wasn’t such a nice guy. So, he struggles to piece together the puzzle of his life, starting with his last known address in Los Angeles.  A few clues lead him to a bank where a mysterious “Larry Cravat” has deposited $5000 into an account for him.  Although Hodiak (playing “George Taylor”) flees when the bank staff become too curious, this event starts him on a search for Larry Cravat that takes up the rest of the film.  Along the way, he gets himself into trouble for being too nosey, gets help from a local club owner (Richard Conte) who knows a friendly police detective (Lloyd Nolan) and falls in with a torch singer from the club (Nancy Guild).  Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (in only his second outing) manages to visit many of the noir settings (mental hospital, wharf at night, fortune teller’s, Turkish bath, nightclub) and keeps the audience as confused as Taylor, with an assortment of interested parties (femme fatale/tramp, thug/mobster, infirm eyewitness) also pursuing Cravat (and/or the MacGuffin).  Although things wrap up rather conventionally, there is enough real desperation and dread here to sink your teeth into (even if Hodiak underplays everything).  Recommended.