All Through the Night (1941)

Not too long ago I decided I wanted to watch every film Humphrey Bogart made. His characters tend to be similar to each other but, unlike Clooney characters, Bogart's never seem to materialize out of nowhere. Each has a backstory, each has some heavy weight they're carrying.
They're all well-rounded in that way and yet they're all a bit different. I've seen nine so far, but after seeing, All Through the Night I might just be happy with what I've already seen and move on.

All Through the Night came out right after The Maltese Falcon, Bogart's big break as a leading player. But in All Through the Night, Bogart plays a gangster, a role he pretty much always played in B movies before The Maltese Falcon. So all that character depth I previously mentioned? Not so much. In fact, at least three other guys in the movie are playing almost the exact same part as Bogart. And everyone except the Nazis and the women are talking in wise-guy voices that all sound exactly the same. Turn away from the screen and there's a good chance you won't know who is talking.

And yeah, there's that Nazi thing. What starts out as some gambling gangsters trying to figure out who killed their favorite cheesecake baker spins into the discovery of an evil Nazi plot for chaos and destruction. I almost can't even believe it as I type it. It all pops out of nowhere amongst fight scenes that are borderline slapstick.

It's all so ridiculous that the only redeemable part that comes to mind is Peter Lorre, who is as creepy as ever as Pepi, the watchdog/hitman.

Rating: 1/5
Recommended for: People who cannot get enough of the 40s movie gangster accent