Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Two things drew me to this film when it appeared recently on TCM. The first was Marilyn Monroe in an early role. The other was because it was based on a play by Clifford Odets.Although Odets was a famous playwright with the Group Theatre in the 1930's, I first became aware of him when he featured in Sam Kashner's brilliant "Vanity Fair" article, "A Movie Marked Danger", the story of the making of "The Sweet Smell of Success" where Kashner gave fascinating insights into the man and his career. I had also read about Odet's affair with Francis Farmer, which helped send her over the edge. From then on, I always looked out for his work and learnt more about him.After a 10-year absence, Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) returns to her hometown, the fishing town of Monterey. She becomes the catalyst for tension between her brother Joe (Keith Anders) and his girlfriend Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). She also becomes the centre of attention of two men, fishing boat skipper Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas) and his friend, Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan).Although he didn't adapt the play for the screen, Odet's ideas and world-view still come through."Clash by Night" takes a while to get into, but the film picks up the pace when the focus turns to Earl's character. Robert Ryan's Earl is an amazing creation. He seems cynical of every human emotion including his own, and is a complex and insidious character. Authors create alter egos in their characters, but if Odets was exorcising demons through Earl, he was a man with issues. After all, when dying of cancer, Odets summed up life thus: "That miserable patch of events, that mélange of nothing, while you were looking ahead for something to happen, that was it! That was life! You lived it!"For the most part, the cast takes the often over-ripe dialogue in their stride. If the film has a fault with casting, it's with some of the racial stereotyping. Hollywood has a lot to answer for in its depiction of Italians, especially when played by non-Italians like J. Carrol Naish. But that is nothing compared to Earl's impersonation of Chinese; it's just plain embarrassing – it receives an appropriate look of disdain from Mae although Paul Douglas' character finds it hilarious. TCM have been quick to cut nude scenes from movies, but maybe that's a scene that is far more offensive.Barbara Stanwyck's low-key style works best in this film; it would have been easy to go overboard with some of the emotion-charged dialogue. Paul Douglas basically plays another variation of himself, and of course, you can't forget Marilyn Monroe. This was before full Marilyn mode, and she is perfect as the pretty girlfriend who is not sure her life is heading in the right direction.Any Fritz Lang film is worth a look, however, the enjoyment of "Clash by Night" is definitely enhanced if you know something about the characters before and behind the camera.

Considering this is directed by Fritz Lang and features a good cast, I was expecting something better than a one-dimensional soaper. The story is about a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) who reluctantly returns to her seaside hometown to live with her brother. She also reluctantly dates and then marries fisherman Paul Douglas. She further reluctantly enters into an affair with misogynist Robert Ryan. She does pretty much everything reluctantly. She's terrible but conflicted about it. That was the style at the time.At 45, Stanwyck is a little old for the part but she does fine with it. The studio system was faltering at this time and no great movie stars of the level of Stanwyck, Davis, or Crawford had risen to take their place. So the '50s often saw middle-aged actresses playing younger roles with often mixed results. There is one rising star here and that's a young Marilyn Monroe. She looks beautiful and does well in her supporting part. The movie's highlights all center around her. The men all do good jobs but again, these are rather clichéd soap opera parts so I hesitate to throw a party for them. Douglas and Ryan both play to type and do so well. The opening credits end with "And introducing Keith Andes." Who's Keith Andes? Exactly. He plays Stanwyck's brother and Marilyn's boyfriend. He does nothing to impress or offend. All of the acting feels very stagey. When I found out this was originally a play I wasn't surprised. Lang does what he can to make a picture out of it but the script offers little help. This is not a film noir, as it is often advertised, but rather a melodrama. So noir fans prepare yourselves before watching. Overall it's a watchable soap with a hollow ending that I won't be watching again.

Fritz Lang directed this soap opera-like story that stars Barbara Stanwyck as Mae Doyle, who returns to her childhood home to live with her brother Jerry(played by Keith Andes), and his girlfriend Peggy(played by Marilyn Monroe). She meets, marries, and has a child with a successful but simple fisherman(played by Paul Douglas) who one day introduces her to his employee and friend Earl(played by Robert Ryan) whom there is initial dislike, but eventual attraction, starting an affair between them with possibly tragic consequences... Good acting and direction compensate for soapy romantic triangle pretending to be a film noir.

Tough cookie Barbara Stanwyck finds little piece of mind after returning home from the big city to the Monterrey seashore and marrying a mild-mannered fisherman. Before long, restlessness leads her into a tawdry affair with kindred spirit Robert Ryan, a hard drinking loner and one of her trusting husband's best friends. The entire cast of characters may be troubled and/or confused, but thankfully the same shortcomings don't extend behind the camera. From a stage drama that could easily have been played as shabby melodrama, Fritz Lang directed a memorable tragedy of human misconduct, crowded with unspoken passions and permeated by a climate of impending menace.