Big Town After Dark (1947)

Big Town After Dark is an entertaining B-picture of the kind that disappeared with the advent of television, though it also has elements of violence that television was never fully comfortable with. Ironically, it was based on the long-running Big Town radio show. Philip Reed plays a kind of hero that has disappeared from American popular culture in the ensuing decades, the knowledgable, well-spoken but tough leader, not afraid to show his education or use his fists if necessary. Hillary Brooke is also something special to see in her role, as a highly competent professional journalist who also manages to be a passionate (and passionately jealous) woman, putting her one up on Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday. The biggest surprises here, however, are the surprisingly elegant main-title music by composer Darrell Calker, featuring piano and orchestra; the hardboiled script -- "too bad" is the hero's reaction when he discovers that a wounded female conspirator is still alive; and Vince Barnett's performance as Louie Snead, the bailbond tout and police station snitch. Barnett was known for his comic relief roles, and he is as funny here as he ever was, but he's also fiercely assertive and way out in front, in what is more than a supporting character performance. Indeed, Big Town After Dark is probably -- along with Robert Siodmak's The Killers -- Barnett's best movie. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide