George Taylor wakes up in a military hospital, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. His discharge papers point him to an address and he follows the lead looking to figure out his past. The path leads him into a dangerous world of dames and hoodlums with a three-year old murder and a missing fortune at the core of the mystery. This is the basic plot and if offered me some interest; OK the amnesia device is not the most original but it is how it is used that matters and this plot sounded like it would tough, pacey and engaging. Sadly it doesn't totally manage to make it all work even if at times it is pretty good.The biggest problem for me is the length and the pacing of the delivery; it is longer than it can sustain and the plot unfurls in a way that is almost too slow and deliberate. The slow pace means that urgency is lost but more damagingly is that it gives you plenty of time to think – so rather than being dragged along by the developments and thrilling plot, the viewer tends to be looking ahead. This is damaging partly because it prevented me getting into the film as much as I would have liked, but also because it means I was thinking about where it was going and, too early in the film, I was able to be pretty sure of the twists that were coming – a good hour before the film actually got there. At its heart this story is still good but it needed to be tougher and breathless in its pace so that the viewer was never allowed to be looking ahead of it. It is still OK for what it is, but the pace damages it.The direction also seems pretty stiff and slow. Static shots, stiff framing and very little motion within the shots means that it adds to the feeling of the film being unnecessarily slow. The cast match this approach somewhat. Hodiak is too stiff and unnatural and his lack of fear and panic is a negative to his performance; he is likable as the lead but there was a lack of heart there. I liked Hutchinson alongside him, even though I felt the film gave her character too much time, adding to the slowing effect. Conte surprised me by being quite dull here, although he had a nice presence the film never uses him enough.Overall Somewhere in the Night has a good plot but it never delivers it in a way that plays to its strengths. The film runs too long and the scenes are delivered at a patience and slow pace that really doesn't suit what it should be doing. This hurts the delivery, robs the plot of urgency and exposes the plot developments to scrutiny which more or less allows the viewer to spoiler the ending for themselves about a hour before the film gets there. Solid film but way too slow.

John Hodiak is a war vet with amnesia who searches for his identity and possible complicity in a crime in "Somewhere in the Night," a 1946 film also starring Nancy Guild, Richard Conte, and Lloyd Nolan. The film is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and he also co-wrote the screenplay with Howard Dimsdale.Severely wounded in the war, Hodiak's character, George Taylor, has had to have facial reconstruction. His recovery is slow, and he can't remember anything. He has a partial letter on his person telling him that he's despicable, and when he picks up his belongings, he finds a letter from one Larry Cravat. Investigating Cravat leads him to murder, stolen money, and some unsavory characters who are after him.This is a muddled movie that still manages to be absorbing, probably because of the talent behind and in front of the camera. Nancy Guild plays a singer in a club owned by Richard Conte. She becomes interested in Taylor and tries to help him. Guild is attractive and looks like a noir heroine in the Bacall-Raines genre, but she delivers her lines in a very flat manner. Lloyd Nolan as a police detective is terrific as always, and Conte gives a smooth performance.You have to pay attention to "Somewhere in the Night" or you'll get lost - sort of like the hero does at points in the movie. Still, it's worth seeing.

***SPOILER ALERT*** Recovering for a Jap grenade that ended up rearranging his face during the battle of Okinawa US Marine Sgt. George Taylor, John Hodiak, completely lost his memory. With Taylor, if that's his name, not really knowing who he is trying to keep that fact a secret from the hospital staff he tries to fake his way through life, as George Taylor, until his memory, if ever, comes back to him.The few clues that Taylor has about himself is a letter, unsigned and without a forwarding address, that he found in his wallet by a former girlfriend telling him what a low down and dirty rat he is! The other clue he found in his navy duffel bag was a note telling him that he has a $5,000,00 account in a L.A bank courtesy of his good and life-long friend Larry Carvat! What puzzles Taylor most of all in the confusion he's going through, in him not being able to remember anything, is who the hell is Larry Cravat! Taylor a man determined to find out who he is ends up getting involved with a slew of unsavory characters who's only mission in life seems to be the finding the whereabouts of Larry Cravat! Since Cravat left the amnesic Taylor $5,000.00 it's assumed by those looking for him that he may well know were Cravat is and lead them straight to him! That's if Taylor's memory ever comes back!Among those looking for Carvat is the Bela Lugosi sounding fortune teller Anzelmo known professionally as Dr. Oracle, Fritz Kortner. As it turned out Anzelmo had something going with Cravat back some four years ago involving a two million dollar, smuggled out of Nazi Ggermany, transaction he was to make with him. This lead to Cravat's disappearances with the money as well as the murder of the middle man in the transaction, someone named Steel, on a deserted L.A dock! Among the other persons looking for Cravat is nightclub owner Mel Phillips, Richard Conte, considered by those who work for him as being the nicest guy in the whole wide world.***SPOILERS***All Mel wants, from what I can figure out, from Cravat is just a friendly chat and nothing more. Maybe Mel is looking to give Cravat a job at his nightclub replacing the bartender John , Whit Bissell, who was found murdered the other night! Meanwhile Taylor begins to put all the pieces together, regarding Larry Cravat, and comes to realize just who this mystery man really is! Something he'll soon wish that he would have never found out!The movie also has in it the great Llyod Noland as police Det. Donald Kendell as well as pretty and classy Nancy Guild as the confused, not about Nancy but everything else in the movie, Taylor's love interest nightclub singer and dancer Christy Smith. In the end Taylor does finally, with Christy's help, find out who he is but that little bit of information almost ends up costing him his life! As you would have expected it was the great Llyod Noland, as Det. Kendell, who with gun blazing came to both Taylor and Christy's rescue. It was also during the films climatic shootout that Det. Kendell finally figured out why detectives,in the movies as well as in real life, never take off their hats even when dining in a Chinese restaurant! Something that had been bugging the lawman for as long as he could remember!

If you like a mystery full of shadows and moody lighting, you'll quite enjoy this rambling yarn. John Hodiak (who looks here like a classic co-respondent in a divorce case), is an amnesiac, who wanders from clue to clue, from character actor to supporting player, in a sort of bemused trance as he tries to piece together who he is and why a certain Larry Cravat wrote him a mysterious note. The mystery holds for a while, then this viewer became a bit tired of scene after scene of talky explanations, and not much cinematic action. Fortunately Hodiak meets a nice girl, played by the charming Nancy Guild, and things looked up (for me). Nancy falls for John, for some reason, and believes in him, although he is becoming convinced that he may be a killer. On he rambles, trying to unravel, in murky apartments, the docks, an insane asylum, etc. There's Nazi loot and a nightclub, and Lloyd Nolan as a chummy cop, and lots of quirky characters (including one of my favourites, Housely Stevenson), who are there mainly to distract you, because Hodiak's character is so passive that he isn't even in the final scene - a cheery wash-up reminiscent of a mild sitcom.