User reviews

Humphrey Bogart and a cast of comedians and character actors make it "All Through the Night," a spy story set in New York City. Bogart plays Gloves Donahue, a bigwig in the sports world - gambler, bookie, and he likes to get tourists involved in rigged card games. His boys include Jackie Gleason, William Demarest, Phil Silvers, and Frank McHugh - a bunch of characters right out of Damon Runyon if there ever were any. When the baker who makes Gloves' favorite cheesecake is murdered, Gloves is determined to find out what happened. The trail leads to a spy ring run by sinister Conrad Veidt with assistance from Judith Anderson, her dachshund Hansel, and Peter Lorre. Lorre doubles as a pianist for a nightclub singer (Kaaren Verne) whose father is in a concentration camp and being used as leverage so she will assist the spies.

This is a fast-paced, funny film made shortly before Pearl Harbor. Its underlying message is that the Nazis aren't going to be content with a few eastern European countries; they want it all. As propaganda, it goes down easily with a terrific cast and some hilarious moments, particularly when Bogart and Demarest attend a secret meeting posing as Nazis.

The plot, of course, is preposterous, and the notes that Bogart finds in Veidt's desk are, for some reason, written in English instead of German, but none of that takes away from the enjoyment of the movie.

The performances are all excellent, but Bogart is a wonder. His no-nonsense, honest delivery and perfect timing work beautifully in comedy as well as drama.

This is a delightful movie - don't miss it.

Vincent Sherman's "All Through the Night" has a feeling of a B picture, although probably was not intended to be that way. This 1942 Warner Bros. film is much more enjoyable than we suspected, because even though the film was supposed to tackle a serious problem, it has a lot of fun moments that make the film much lighter in tone than perhaps the film makers intended.

At the center of the story we find 'Gloves' Donahue, a small time gangster and his crew. They are a fun group that are drawn into an international spy story right in their own backyard. Ma Donahue comes to ask her son's assistance in trying to solve the murder of her baker neighbor, and the fun and games begin in full force.

There are a lot of good moments in the film, but it is dominated by Humphrey Bogart who runs away with the picture. His crew is also a great asset to the film, Frank McHugh, a fantastic actor, no matter in what picture is excellent, as well as William Demarest, one of the best character actors in the movies of that era. A much slender Jackie Gleason puts in an appearance as Starchy, a member of Donahue's team.

The heavies are amazing. Conrad Veidt is wonderful as the Nazi spy trying to blow up a ship in New York's harbor. Mr. Veidt was such an elegant figure in everything he did. Judith Anderson is seen as the mysterious assistant to Mr. Veidt's character. Ms. Anderson had a way about her that she dominates the scenes in which she appears. Peter Lorre does a lot with his small piano player, Pepi.

The film never ceases to entertain. Thanks to Mr. Humphrey and the wonderful cast assembled for the movie, it will not disappoint anyone with an open eye for a lighter take on a serious matter.

Actually, this movie is better than most, with a good deal of the credit going to the myriad cast of star-quality actors. I suspect it was part of the Hollywood WWII propaganda stable but the story still resonates today and, just maybe, provides a cautionary tale as well.

Interesting seeing a young and slim Jackie Gleason (billed as Jackie C. Gleason) and noting this was just one of seven movies he was in in 1942! Bogart had perfected his small-town crook role by the time this movie came out. He unwittingly gets involved in a Nazi spy ring and it all begins with his love of a cheesecake made by an old man who is found murdered. The chase for the killer(s) is on...

You cannot watch this movie without smiling at the antics of Frank McHugh, the character actor who endeared himself to many during the 30s and 40s.

Conrad Veidt is phenomenally evil as the Nazi spy and it's important to remember this man actually fled from Germany to reside in England and America, giving all of his monies and salaries to the British Government to fight the Nazi menace. He is always good in the Nazi genre but it surely must have galled him to play these roles on so many occasions when he despised the very people he portrayed. His interaction with the imperious Judith Anderson (later, Dame Judith Anderson) is actually a la film noir at its best.

Excellent cast brings this movie up a notch from the formulaic movies during WWII and this one is well worth watching.

When I was a kid a local station had a package of films from the 30's and 40's it would run constantly. My young friends and I developed 6-8 favorites we would all congregate together to watch- everything in the neighborhood stopped for Errol Flynn, (Charge of the Light Brigade, The Sea Hawk, Santa Fe Trail, They Died With Their Boots On, Gentleman Jim, Objective Burma), or Abbott and Costello, (Buck Privates, A&C meet Et Al). The one Humphrey Bogart feature that I remember from this package is All Through the Night. I saw him in this years before Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and the many other classics he was in.

I got my first chance to look at it in perhaps 40 years recently. It's a strange film in many ways, but still entertaining and a significant part of the Bogart film legacy even if it's far from a classic. We think the great stars just went from one classic to another because that's all we see but just as with modern stars, they made many movies like this between them that also rely on their appeal and mostly fulfill their assignment of entertaining the viewer. Those films should not be forgotten.

This film suffered from ill timing, taking a semi-comic spin on the Nazi threat only to be released just after Pearl Harbor. It must have been about as funny under those circumstances as Ishtar would have been on September 12th. As so many reviewers have commented it unites the Bowery Boys strain of humor, (by way of Damon Runyan) with a Fifth column plot such as we see in the same year's Saboteur, (both films make reference to the burning of the Normadie without actually naming it and say their set of villains was responsible). The Nazis seems to have seen Bogart's previous gangster flicks and consider him a dangerous criminal, (You're just like us…), but the film takes pains to depict him only as a gambler whose biggest vice is that he doesn't mind liberating out of town gamblers from their bankrolls with a crooked deck. He credits his skill with firearms to days he spent at Coney Island.

One interesting aspect is the reference to the Dachau concentration camp. I had thought the concentration camps were just rumored until they were liberated after the war. Maybe their true nature was not known until then. The heroine's father is supposed to have died of 'natural causes' there, if that's possible in such an unnatural place. This is surely the only time Dachau was ever mentioned in a film with any kind of comedic element.

The film is a mother lode of noted character actors and soon to be famous comics, including these future TV icons, Jackie 'C' Gleason and Phil Silvers. It has the pace of a 'B' but the length of and 'A' film. Towards the end you can't believe how much has happened and presume the film must have lasted 3 hours. Some of the dialog is corny but most of it is funny. Frank McHugh gets stuck on his wedding night hanging out with William Demarest and complains about it. Bill tells him 'I can cook!' Maybe he was looking forward to cooking for the Douglases on My Three Sons.

I was pleased to see how many reviewers noted the similarities in the plot of this and North by Northwest, with the auction scene and the police being led to the headquarters of the fifth columnists only to find nothing of interest. Always borrow from the best- or at least the pretty good, such as this.

The discovery that your cheesecake vendors gone, leads to a caper that you wouldn't gamble on, in a club someone's rid of, and in error you leave a glove, as five fingers point to what you've stumbled on. With help you make it to an auctioneers, after wandering around a place in rears, but you're captured and you're bound, not long after you are found, then discover there are fascists in the gears. There's some toing and some froing that leads to, a vipers nest of Nazis who review, plans to set off an explosion, causing chaos and commotion, can you stop the saboteurs, what can you do?

An of its time, not particularly funny, propaganda promotion.

A search for the murderer of their friendly neighborhood German baker and a nightclub bouncer leads New York City "sports promoter" (read: bookie) Gloves Donahue (Humphrey Bogart in one of his most entertaining roles) and his sidekicks Sunshine (William Demarest) and Barney (Frank McHugh, or as we affectionately call him, "Annabelle's Husband," in honor of the film's running gag about his character's newlywed status) to a nest of Fifth Columnists with sabotage on their minds, right in the middle of Manhattan! The high concept of this fast, funny, suspenseful Warners adventure is basically "Damon Runyon Meets The Nazis." I especially got a kick out of the breezy, sometimes punny dialogue (like "We'll get them by the seat of their Panzers" and "Hey, there's more here than meets the FBI!") and its delightful euphemisms for Bogie's line of work, such as "man about town and well-known figure in the sporting world." (My late dad was a bookie, so I should know! ;-) Bogart, Demarest, McHugh, and charming leading lady Kaaren Verne are joined by smooth villains Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, and Judith Anderson, and on the good guys' team, Jane Darwell (as Bogie's mom!), Edward Brophy, Barton MacLane, and even a young Phil Silvers and Jackie (C.) Gleason! Alas, Pearl Harbor was still too fresh in 1942 audiences' minds for them to appreciate a quasi-realistic World War 2 spy thriller with broadly humorous overtones. Luckily, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is available on home video and Turner Classic Movies so you modern movie lovers can enjoy this entertaining genre blend!

This is a comical crime story directed by Vincent Sherman. The black & white atmosphere of a gangster film prevails. Humphrey Bogart plays a gambler/wise guy that gathers some muscle from a gang of 'enforcers' to take on the local branch of the Third Reich. Bogart is upset about the murder of the baker of his favorite cheesecake. The wise guys end up making a shambles of a Nazi spy ring. Comedy bits filter the fisticuffs.

Star studded cast helping Bogart includes: Peter Lorre, William Demarest, Jane Darwell, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Wallace Ford and Judith Anderson. Conrad Veidt is outstanding as the Nazi ring leader.

A very funny war era movie. Bogart had played a gangster in comedies (Brother Orchid with Edward J. Robinson), but played it straight as a tough guy. This movie highlighted Bogart's great comedic timing which was also evident in harder edged movies from the same period: The Big Sleep, Casablanca, and the Maltese Falcon. All Through the Night makes a fun companion piece to these movies and like the others, has a great supporting cast.

It's no longer as impressive as it was upon its release nearly 70 years ago, but ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT holds up fairly well as a curious blend of mystery, action, comedy and flag-waving.

Humphrey Bogart leads a rag-tag bunch of Manhattan gamblers who take on as their patriotic duty a battle against Nazis who hope to paint the city red with their despicable brand of hate. Amid inexplicable murders and wild chases, including a climactic showdown on an explosives-packed boat, Bogey and his boys aren't about to let the enemy take hold of the mother land.

ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is not widely considered a classic, and with reason. Though it boasts an impressive cast (Bogey, Peter Lorre and Conrad Veidt are at the top of their game), lively dialog and good action sequences, the film suffers from some faults. For one, it doesn't always allow you to take a breath or two to absorb everything you've just taken in. It's one big block of non-stop, which might not be so bad were the plot less intricate. The film is also a touch overlong, running out of material before the end credits, and at times suffers from a lack of clear direction.

But for those faults, there's no denying this movie's appeal. It's like an early '40s action blockbuster, the heroic wise cracks notwithstanding. The passage of time has rendered the anti-Nazi theme, complete with an ax cutting through a Hitler portrait, amusing yet still strangely patriotism-inducing. Reviewers have noted how much fun ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is, and it's hard to argue that point. Still, with a few tweaks this is one would-be classic that would have more firmly stood the test of time.

All Through the Night was started almost the day after the Pearl Harbor attack and rushed as fast as Warner Brothers could get it out to the movie going public. It's a curiosity today, but for different reasons.

Humphrey Bogart is one of those characters who straddles between the legal and illegal. When his mom, Jane Darwell, asks him to find out what happened to her baker of German ancestry, Bogey starts his own investigation. Along the way the partner of Barton MacLane who is a rival of Bogey's, gets murdered and now the police are looking for him as well as MacLane's mob.

But Bogey persists and finds a nasty nest of Nazi fifth columnists using an antique auction as a cover.

I've often wondered whether films like All Through the Night weren't a double edged sword in terms of propaganda. For audiences in 1942 I suppose it was good to see an All-American hero like Humphrey Bogart besting the Germans. Yet the Germans in so many of these films are portrayed as incredibly stupid, I do wonder if a whole lot of our draftees didn't go in the armed services with some bad pre-conceived notions.

But All Through the Night does have is an incredible cast of some of the finest character actors ever assembled. The Germans are played by Conrad Veidt, Judith Anderson, and Peter Lorre and they play it completely straight. They'd have to or the film wouldn't work on any level. Kaaren Verne is the heroine who the Nazis are using to entice Bogey, she's working for them because she believes this will save her father still in the fatherland.

Bogey has such people working for him as William Demarest, Frank McHugh, Wallace Ford, Jackie Gleason and Phil Silvers. With Gleason and Silvers who were pretty far down on the cast list, you had two people who would make their major breakthroughs in the next decade in television. Add this entire cast up and it's pretty impressive, all these wonderful movie people doing their own particular shtick at the top of their game.

For that reason All Through the Night should be seen and enjoyed even if you might wince at the over the top propaganda.

A wonderful, funny B movie with an A cast. Bogart made this one between THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA. Lorre and Veidt and Dame Judith Anderson are wonderfully villainous, and a couple of future superstars -- Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason -- make their debuts as members of Bogart's gang. This has everything Warner Brothers films loved: a murky waterfront, an old abandoned warehouse, a sinister auction gallery run by foreigners, a swanky nightclub that seems to be inhabited exclusively by gangsters (the Good Guys) and Nazis (the Bad Guys). Puns galore. Probably audiences didn't want to see a comedy about the Third Reich back in 1942, but it gets better (and given the cast, historically more important) with age.

A funny film, with Bogart in top form as a gangster who uncovers a group of Fifth Columnists in New York City while trying to clear his name from a murder rap. This film also features a great supporting cast, with William Demarest shining as Bogart's crony Sunshine. It could've been funnier, but it is still very entertaining.

Gloves Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) is the boss of a gambling gang. His favorite food is Miller's cheesecake. When Miller refuses to continue to help in a mysterious conspiracy, Pepi (Peter Lorre) kills him. A mysterious girl comes looking for Miller at the bakery. Gloves' mother is Miller's neighborhood friend and finds out that the mysterious girl is nightclub singer Leda Hamilton. Gloves takes up the case investigating the beautiful Leda. Her piano player turns out to be the killer Pepi. Joe from the nightclub barges in on Leda being manhandled by Pepi. Joe is shot and tells Gloves that they took Leda with his dying words. Gloves leaves his glove at the murder scene and he becomes the prime suspect. Gloves continues to investigating as he uncovers a Nazi plot of sabotage.

This is fun little espionage crime drama. Bogart is what makes this works so well. Peter Lorre is as ever the perfect sweaty villain. Kaaren Verne is a functional damsel in distress. There is an easy sense of humor. It is broadly comedic to offset the serious nature of the war effort at the time. This is just a fun anti-Nazi adventure.

The plot of this film is REALLY silly. I'll admit this yet say that it's STILL worth seeing. The film begins as a sort of "nice gangster" film--Bogey is a "heart of gold" hood who leads a gang of seemingly nice petty thugs. Of course this Robin Hood-like group is a giant cliché, but it's so much fun watching them that you soon forget how silly this is. BUT, just when you thought this little murder mystery couldn't get any sillier or more clichéd, it does. It turns out that this seemingly run of the mill murder is really the work of an evil group of Nazi infiltrators!!! Then, once Bogey's gang figures this out, they prove they are really good loyal American down deep and kick the snot out of the Germans! This is all good silly fun and, as far as American propaganda films go, it's one of the best. Plus, for fans like me who love familiar movie extras, this one is jam-packed--with Frank McHugh, William Demarest and a very young Jackie Gleason (among others) as well as Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre as the "baddies".

I have long held a fantasy about this picture. One day, Jack Warner wandered into his studio commissary, noticed all these contract players sitting around drinking coffee and screamed, 'Get 'em all into a movie...NOW!' I submit: Jackie Gleason William Demarest Frank McHugh Wally Ford Peter Lorre Conrad Viedt Judith Anderson James Burke Not enough? OK, how about: Jane Darwell Karen Verne Hansel, the dog Barton McLain All The Ones I Forget

This has GOT to be as fun a movie to watch as any ever made.

Chasing Nazi 'Fivers' through Manhattan...they don't even make it to Brooklyn! Gloves, Humphrey Bogart, and his boys show the Hun they can't do in New York what they could in Berlin. Yes, it's propaganda with a capital 'P'; but its fun with a capital 'F'. One of my favourite Bogart movies.

-30-

A colorful gang of hoodlums, led by Humphrey Bogart, investigate the murder of a baker and uncover a Nazi plot. This one's a real treat with a terrific cast. The characters are like something from a Damon Runyon story. Bogie's gang is full of reliable comedic actors like William Demarest, Frank McHugh, and Jackie Gleason. Jane Darwell plays Bogie's mom and Kaaren Verne the dame he falls for. Pre-Casablanca teaming of Bogie with Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre, who play the main Nazis. That's not all: Judith Anderson, Wallace Ford, Barton MacLane, Edward Brophy, Phil Silvers...a really great lineup. A fun movie with snappy patter and good comedy, action, and intrigue. Bogart fans will, of course, love this. If there's a negative, it's that it's a little overlong for a movie of its type.

Not the typical Bogie film, but still with the typical Bogie... cracking wise and being a tough guy that is slower to catch on that usual. This is more of a romp with plenty of fun thrown in, almost akin to a Bob Hope style Ghost Busters or even a Bowery Boys serial. William Demarest plays a good supporting role for those of us that only remember him from "My Three Sons" replacement to Bill Frawley.

If you are a fan of the 30's and 40's style vernacular, you will enjoy this film more than most from the period as the lingo is fast and furious and many terms familiar with some new ones in there as well. Light humor, CORNY... but get a bucket of corn of your own to fight back with... and hiss the villain... Gee, I wonder if Bogie will come through in the end and get the pretty girl?!!?

What a great find this film turned out to be. Some reviews dismiss it as war propaganda, but that does it a great disservice. This is not your usual anti Nazi in your face with a simple plot that paints the characters as one dimensional. This is thrilling, comedic and tense. The cast is stellar with Bogart nailing it as a Broadway big shot mixed up with a dame who's being blackmailed by Lorre and his gang. Great supporting cast and a the musical score adds to the depth and tone of this gem. Don't miss.

***SPOILERS*** Humphrey Bogart as big time gambler and cheesecake lover,that's the pastry not the sexy women kind, Gloves Donahue uncovers a Nazi spy ring ring in Manhattans Yorkville section and with the help of his somewhat shady or mobbed up friends goes to put it out of business.

Bogie or Gloves first got an inkling of what's was happening when his good friend and bakery owner German/American Mr.Miller, Ludwig Stossel, was found dead in his bakery with a broken neck. Mr. Miller has been working with the Nazi ring only because he has family back in Nazi Germany who's lives were endangered if he did't. It's when Mr. Miller's Nazi contact Pepi, Peter Lorrie, wanted him to go a step farther, in killing US sailors, that he refused which cost him his life! Despite Gloves efforts to alert the police to what's going on he in fact becomes their #1 suspect, in Pepi planting one of Gloves' gloves at the murder scene, in Mr. Miller's murder!

As things turn out it's nightclub singer Leda Hamilton, Kaaren Verne, who also works for the Nazi spy and sabotage ring who helps Gloves out in that she finds out that her German born father who was being head hostage by the Nazis in Germany's notorious Dachau concentration camp was murdered by them. As Gloves and his friend and fellow mobster Sunsine, William Dmarest, find out from the head of the spy ring himself Ebbing, Conred Veidt, the big plan is to knock out a US Navy battleship docked in Brooklyn's Gravesend Bay. And the plan to do it is by using a motorboat loaded with high explosives with Ebbing and his fellow Nazi Pepi smashing into it, kamikaze style, at full breakneck speed blasting the ship to kingdom come!

With Gloves on his own and wanted by the police he has to rely on his fellow mobsters to get the job, in stopping the motorboat attack, done all by themselves. And with time running out it would take next to a miracle for that to happen. But with Gloves Leda and the boys going into action that miracle can very well be achieved!

Released on December 2, 1941 just five days before the Japansese attack on Pearl Harbor and nine days after German Furher Adolph Hitler's Declaration of War against the US the movie "All Through the Night's" release couldn't have been more timely! Even though when it was released at a time when the US & Nazi German as well as Imperial Japan were technically still at peace with each other! Even more ironic was the planned attack by Nazi fanatic Ebbing on a US Navy battleship which was eerily reminiscent of the Al-Qeada attack on the US Navy warship USS Cole sixty years later on October 12, 2000 in the Bay of Yemen on the Red Sea. Did the Al-Qeada terrorist organization get their idea to do in the USS Cole by watching the film "All Through the Night" that may have inspire them to do it?

With a cast like this and a combination of suspense-comedy-romance and drama, this could have been an extraordinary film. In fact, you would expect it to be but, alas, it is far from that. It was a big disappointment.

Much of the humor is so-so at best and the action is nothing to write home about. The story is so blah that after an hour, it's tough to stay focused.

It's incredible to make those statements when you consider the cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Jane Darwell, Frank McHugh, Jackie Gleason, Judith Anderson, Phil Silvers and William Demarest.

The film isn't all that bad, but if you have a collection of films that is of any size, as I do, this wasn't good enough to be a "keeper."