Bogie Single-Handedly Fights The Axis- Humphrey Bogart’s All Through The Night

 

 

DVD Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

All Through The Night, starring Humphrey Bogart, 1942

Let’s run through a few home truths. Rick, Rick of Rick’s American Café out in the North African night in the time of the “night of the long knives” in the world during the 1940s gave up his hot true love, his very hot true love met in some Paris bistro and then whereabouts unknown, got friendly with the Free French forces working underground in Vichy-controlled Morocco, took out the local German commander Major Strasser when he got in the good guys way and put Victor Lazlo, the leader of the freedom struggle against the “night of the long knives” on his way to lead the liberation forces in exile (along with that Rick’s hot true love, very hot true love met in Paris and whereabouts now known) during World War II in Casablanca. Old Captain Morgan, well, maybe not so old since the screen-writers tool many liberties when adapting the book for the screen, working his one man fishing operation out of Vichy-controlled Martinique during the Caribbean version of the “night of the long knives,” working the sports fishing expeditions racket although with not much apparent success, who does not give up his hot true love, very hot true, got himself friendly with the Free French forces working underground against those Vichy guys, spirited an important Resistance leader out to do liberation work another day with that hot true love in tow during World War II in To Have And Have Not. Disgraced Captain Rick Leland who also did not give up his hot true love, took a Japanese freighter looking for work in Asia doing mercenary work for whoever would pay the freight, who when the deal went down had actually been working the counter-espionage racket down in the Panama Canal against the Asian version of the “night of the long knives”, foiling the best laid plans of the Japanese and their agents and who in the end walked arm and arm with that hot true love onto further derring-do against America’s enemies during World War II in Across The Pacific. And what do they all have in common including with other items of World War II significance? Well, they all have one Humphrey Bogart who won his spurs as a tough guy gangster as Duke Mantee in Petrified Forest and as hard-boiled PI Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon  as a leading man in the films and in Hollywood. No, more than a leading man, more like the white knight single-armed fighter against the scourges of the earth back in that war. Well Bogie is on a roll because here he is again as the leading man, Gloves, in the fight against German Axis fifth columnists in America in the film under review, All Through The Night (nice song title by the way).         

Here is the funny thing about Gloves though he is nothing but a stay at home, ah, sportsman (read: gambler and man about town and maybe draft-dodger if it came to that) not the usual suspect for the leader of the grand coalition against the bad guys. No Rick, not Steve, not the good Army captain who one would expect to lead such activities. But I have to admit that he does pretty well for a civilian. See this nest of German fifth columnists are up to their eyeballs in espionage activity all toward some nefarious end to demoralize American as war rages in Europe. They have co-opted some others through threats and bribes to help him do the dirty deed. The dirty deed in this case being blowing up a battleship anchored at the Brooklyn Naval Base. And they almost succeed. 

Here is where they came undone though. Beyond the obvious bravery exhibited by Gloves and his, ah, sports associates, in nabbing the dastardly crew before they can carry out the act the whole plot is done in a rather tongue and cheek manner. Clearly Gloves had taken, once he figured out what was afoot, the measure of his opponents and figured that against Uncle Sam’s goodwill the fifth columnists were putty in his hands. And they were putty once the collective strong-arm corner boys of New York got word that somebody like Hitler, the guy with the funny mustache, fully intended to cut their action. Cut their gambling, loan shark, casino cut operations. Those were fighting words, no question. Oh yeah, on the hot true love question everybody I am sure is holding their breath about. Yes, old Gloves got what all white knights got, got the hot true love, a daughter of an important father that the bad guys were holding in a concentration camp in Europe and who had been forced to co-operate to keep him alive until bravo Gloves got on the case. No question Bogie was quite a guy but why did he let Ilsa get away?