All Through the Night (1941)

All Through the Night has such a strong cast that most viewers will be willing to overlook its many flaws and simply relax, sit back and watch the actors go to it. It's not Humphrey Bogart's best performance by far, but it's one of his most entertaining. Even when playing a tough guy, Bogart usually got to inject some levity into the surroundings (at least after he became a legitimate star), but the comedy in Night is much broader. Bogart plays things with a readier smile and a lighter heart -- although he puts on his "I mean business" gloves when things heat up a little too much. Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre are appropriately slimey, and Judith Anderson, faced again with a part that she could do in her sleep, still makes Madame appropriately menacing. Jane Darwell's a bit over-the-top, due in large part to the way her character is written, and Kaaren Verne is a bit bland, but there's very able support from William Demarest, Frank McHugh and Phil Silvers. There's so much able support, as a matter of fact, that the likes of Jackie Gleason hardly makes an impression. Without this cast, Night would be a pretty pallid affair, as Vincent Sherman's direction is strictly mediocre, and the screenplay even more so. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide