Tonight's Movie: A Night of Adventure (1944)
Conway plays star defense attorney Mark Latham, who is continually ignoring his lovely wife Erica (Audrey Long) due to work.
When Mark deserts her in the middle of an important dinner, Erica moves out to think over the future of their marriage. She also becomes friendly with artist Tony Clair (Louis Borell), who wants to marry her.
When Tony is charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Julie (Jean Brooks), Erica asks Mark to defend him. Mark has just two problems; the first is that he might be successful in obtaining the freedom of the man who might finish off the marriage he wants to save, and the second is that Mark knows exactly how Julie died, because he was in Tony's apartment at the time, but he doesn't want to admit it.
I'm fond of both Conway and Long, so I found it very enjoyable watching them work together as husband and wife.RKO "B" films are great "movie comfort food," with their familiar casts and nice sense of style. Edward Brophy, who plays Mark's aide Steve, played a similar role in Conway's Falcon series, and Jean Brooks was in a number of Falcon films as well.
Also in the cast, playing a key witness, is a young Nancy Gates. Mark's barely-seen secretary, Miss Elliott, is played by Elaine Riley, who passed on earlier this year.
The cast is rounded out by Addison Richards, Russell Hopton, Emory Parnell, Jason Robards Sr., and Claire Carleton.
A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE was a remake of HAT, COAT AND GLOVE (1934) which starred Ricardo Cortez. It was directed by Gordon Douglas from a screenplay by Crane Wilbur.The movie was shot in black and white by Frank Redman. The film was produced by Herman Schlom, who also produced SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ (1942), reviewed this past weekend.
A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE is not available on DVD or VHS, but has been shown on Turner Classic Movies. Hopefully at some point in the future this RKO film will be available from the Warner Archive, which has previously released Conway's crime films TWO O'CLOCK COURAGE (1945) and CRIMINAL COURT (1946) and Long's mystery STAGE STRUCK (1948).
posted by Laura @ 4:00 PM
4 Comments:
I love RKO movies of that era, Laura! Stylish, as you say, and even their 'B' movies had good casts and production values. This film though has eluded me, sad to say, but it sounds like my kinda movie all right. Tom Conway was at his career peak in the 40s and his appeal has grown over recent years, for me. Nice to see this film reviewed.
Hi Jerry! I so agree. RKO movies of this era are some of my very favorites. Hope you can see this one soon!
Best wishes,
Laura
Just a note to add that the artist on trial is called Tony Clair, not Clark — a generically foreign name for Dutch actor Louis Borell, or Borel, in some movies. Apparently, he went back to Holland after the war and made movies there, although of diminishing stature. Speaking of stature, we probably need to point out, for folks who don't already know, that ill-fated Tom Conway was the nearly identical brother of rangy actor George "I'm bored" Sanders. The movie was on TCM recently, and I find it to be miles above most RKO "B" movies, with good twists and especially saucy repartee between the married couple — although how the wife could find and furnish her own own apartment and get entangled with a new lover in the few days The Falcon, I mean her husband, was in Washington is never explained. (And how about that battling-corruption-for-the-feds subplot?) The courtroom scenes were much better than the average, with lavish attention paid to the excellent supporting players by director Gordon Douglas, who started his career with Our Gang movies and ended it with star vehicles for Frank Sinatra and Sidney Poitier. Well, his run literally kerplopped with 1977's camp classic "Viva Knievel!" He's probably still petitioning IMDb to take that one off the list.
Thank you, Kenjimoto, for pointing out my typo -- given that my "day job" is proofreading, I especially appreciate having the most accurate reviews possible!
Glad to know you found this film fun! Tom Conway and Gordon Douglas have each provided me with a lot of viewing enjoyment over the years.
Best wishes,
Laura
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