Jandy Hardesty’s review published on Letterboxd:
Not really what I was expecting at all - I was expecting a film noir crime thing, but even though it definitely has a gritty noir-type feeling, it's more of a harsh, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf-esque relationship melodrama.
Stanwyck returns to her home in a backwater fishing town bitter after a bad love affair; she's soon pursued by the eager but schlubby owner of the fishing boat her brother works on (Paul Douglas). Fearing her attraction to an equally bitter but virile Robert Ryan, she marries the boat captain for the stability and safety...but I mean, Robert Ryan is still around.
Lots of bad decisions made by lonely and desperate people add up to kind of a nasty little movie, but one that's pretty dynamite a lot of the time. The ending seems incongruously upbeat, but there's still an undercurrent of unease in it, and Stanwyck's wresting with questions of love, lust, and responsibility is quite thought-provoking.
Oh, also, yeah, this was the film that really brought Marilyn Monroe a lot of attention, in a supporting role as Stanwyck's brother's girlfriend. She works in a fish canning factory (!), which seems so weird if you know her from her later, more glamorous roles, but she's incredibly fresh-faced and vibrant here. Less self-conscious than she would be later, and solid support. I wondered if she would steal the spotlight from Stanwyck, but the answer is no. No one steals the spotlight from Barbara Stanwyck.
HOW IT ENTERED MY FLICKCHART
Flickchart is a movie-ranking website where you much choose your favorite in a series of movie matchups, ultimately creating a list of your favorite movies. When you add a new movie, Flickchart pits it against a series of films already on your chart to determine its proper ranking on your list.
Clash by Night > Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Schulman
Clash by Night < Bound
Clash by Night < The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
Clash by Night > For Scent-mental Reasons
Clash by Night < Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
Clash by Night > The Garden
Clash by Night > The Great Train Robbery
Clash by Night > Since You Went Away
Clash by Night > Life of Brian
Clash by Night > Pleasantville
Clash by Night > A Wild Hare
Clash by Night < Words and Music
Final ranking: #1429 out of 3513 (