Written, produced and co-directed by hot-shot screenwriter Ben Hecht, this pithy little feature, which barely runs for 80 minutes, for me brings to mind the down-beat paintings of mid-century American artist Edward Hopper. Here we get four ordinary, average New Yorkers who get together to help one of them in need against the mob, set to the backdrop of a less than glamorous New York with more than one scene shot in the pouring rain at night time.
The rather insubstantial plot revolves around the cowed and beaten Mr Engels, played by John Qualen, who has not only just been rumbled by his senior co-partner for extorting $3000 from the business but also learned that his believed-loving wife to whom he gave the money to indulge her expensive taste, is actually having an affair with another man. With only until 6 o'clock the next morning to raise the money and no means to do so, he understandably gives up hope, writes a suicide note and sets out to do the deed.
However he delays doing so in order to have one more night of fun at a fancy hotel where he is seen dishing out dollars like a millionaire by Douglas Fairbanks Jr's Bill O'Brien character. Thinking he has identified another commission for inveighing another unsuspecting rube into a crooked, mobster-heavy card game set up only to relieve the innocent of his suspected riches, he sets up a meet with his gangster pals.
However, he's thwarted in his nefarious plan by a drunk, hammy theatre-writer, coming off three successive flops, played by Thomas Mitchell and a young, pretty, okay make that very pretty, we're talking about a pre-fame Rita Hayworth here, would-be showgirl and when they learn of Mr Engels' true plight, form an unlikely alliance with an initially reluctant Fairbanks to try and help him glean the money back from the early stages of the card game and then spirit him away into the night. It's fair to say that things don't exactly go according to plan but like all good morality tales, which this film effectively is, times four, they pretty much all get to a different, better place in the end.
With shades of a less flamboyant Damon Runyon short story, the film sets an interesting juxtaposition between four ordinary people who struggle individually in their lives but in the end learn that by reaching out either to give or receive help, even from unlikely sources, they can improve their respective lots.
There are some nice scene-setting shots, possibly the idea of co-director, master-cameraman, Lee Garmes, one of which gives a top-down view of the enticing card-game. I might have looked for some slightly sharper dialogue from the guy who wrote the glorious "His Girl Friday" to name just one classic from his prize catalogue and Mitchell's character's pickled verbosity grates after a while but all in all this is a neat and tidy redemptive story of four ordinary New York nighthawks who band together to take on the mob.
The rather insubstantial plot revolves around the cowed and beaten Mr Engels, played by John Qualen, who has not only just been rumbled by his senior co-partner for extorting $3000 from the business but also learned that his believed-loving wife to whom he gave the money to indulge her expensive taste, is actually having an affair with another man. With only until 6 o'clock the next morning to raise the money and no means to do so, he understandably gives up hope, writes a suicide note and sets out to do the deed.
However he delays doing so in order to have one more night of fun at a fancy hotel where he is seen dishing out dollars like a millionaire by Douglas Fairbanks Jr's Bill O'Brien character. Thinking he has identified another commission for inveighing another unsuspecting rube into a crooked, mobster-heavy card game set up only to relieve the innocent of his suspected riches, he sets up a meet with his gangster pals.
However, he's thwarted in his nefarious plan by a drunk, hammy theatre-writer, coming off three successive flops, played by Thomas Mitchell and a young, pretty, okay make that very pretty, we're talking about a pre-fame Rita Hayworth here, would-be showgirl and when they learn of Mr Engels' true plight, form an unlikely alliance with an initially reluctant Fairbanks to try and help him glean the money back from the early stages of the card game and then spirit him away into the night. It's fair to say that things don't exactly go according to plan but like all good morality tales, which this film effectively is, times four, they pretty much all get to a different, better place in the end.
With shades of a less flamboyant Damon Runyon short story, the film sets an interesting juxtaposition between four ordinary people who struggle individually in their lives but in the end learn that by reaching out either to give or receive help, even from unlikely sources, they can improve their respective lots.
There are some nice scene-setting shots, possibly the idea of co-director, master-cameraman, Lee Garmes, one of which gives a top-down view of the enticing card-game. I might have looked for some slightly sharper dialogue from the guy who wrote the glorious "His Girl Friday" to name just one classic from his prize catalogue and Mitchell's character's pickled verbosity grates after a while but all in all this is a neat and tidy redemptive story of four ordinary New York nighthawks who band together to take on the mob.