Somewhere in the Night
Screening on Film
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
US, 1946, 35mm, black & white, 110 min.
Print source: Criterion
US, 1946, 35mm, black & white, 110 min.
Print source: Criterion
A taut film noir gem, Somewhere In the Night follows an amnesiac veteran Marine through nighttime Los Angeles in search of his forgotten past and the origins of a briefcase full of Nazi plunder. John Hodiak is rarely as expressive as the disoriented soldier trying to find his way through the criminal underworld. Mankiewicz's original screenplay weaves a wonderfully disorienting spell with its labyrinthine plot and its announcement of memory as one of Mankiewicz's recurrent themes. – HG