''Nocturne'' is a 1946 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

starring

George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...

and

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. ...

. The film was produced by longtime

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

associate Joan Harrison, scripted by

Jonathan Latimer Jonathan Wyatt Latimer (October 23, 1906 – June 23, 1983) was an American crime writer known his novels and screenplays. Before becoming an author, Latimer was a journalist in Chicago. Early life and education Born in Chicago, Illinois, L ...

, and directed by

Edwin L. Marin Edwin L. Marin (February 21, 1899 – May 2, 1951) was an American film director who directed 58 films between 1932 and 1951, working with Randolph Scott, Anna May Wong, John Wayne, Peter Lorre, George Raft, Bela Lugosi, Judy Garland, E ...

. It was one of several medium budget thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s.

Plot

The film opens on Keith Vincent, a Hollywood composer, as he creates a new song called "Nocturne". As he plays his piano, a woman sits silently in the shadows and listens to the composer speak as he plays. But the mood changes a little when he says, "You're no longer the one," and encourages her to go away for a while. Moments later, as he alters the score with a pen, the composer is shot and killed. The police think it is suicide, but detective Joe Warne suspects murder. He encounters Vincent's housekeeper, Susan Flanders, who had been sleeping in the house but had been wearing ear-plugs because "she didn't like the music". They take her in for questioning. Warne begins looking for "Dolores", because he sees that the score for "Nocturne" still on the piano has a hand-written dedication to this name. The Filipino houseboy, Eujemio, arrives after a day off - he knows his employer was planning to meet a woman but he does not know who. He tells Warne that the composer was a womanizer who called all of his girlfriends Dolores. There is a line of female photos on the wall... one is missing. The coroner returns a verdict of suicide but Warne continues to investigate despite being warned to stop by his boss. Warne follows a series of clues around Los Angeles. He spots that he is being followed by a large man and challenges him outside the

Brown Derby Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chain ...

. Warne's ruthless questioning tactics lead several suspects to report him for abuse. Pursuing the case with dogged determination, the obsessed Warne is suspended from the police force. As he digs deeper into the murder, the clues draw him closer to Frances Ransom, but he deduces that she was framed by Ned Ford. Ford was enraged that his wife Carol had merely been the composer's latest conquest. When he found out that the composer had no intention of marrying Carol, Ford decided to kill him. Warne turns Ford over to the police, and reveals to Frances that he knew almost from the beginning that she was not the murderer.

Cast

as Joe Warne *

as Frances Ransom *

Virginia Huston Virginia Huston (April 24, 1925 – February 28, 1981) was an American actress. Early years Huston was born in Wisner, Nebraska, the daughter of Marcus and Mary Agnes Houston, and she had two brothers. Once she began her acting career, she chan ...

as Carol Page *

Joseph Pevney Joseph Pevney (September 15, 1911 – May 18, 2008) was an American film and television director.

as Ned "Fingers" Ford *

Myrna Dell Myrna Dell (born Marilyn Adele Dunlap; March 5, 1924 – February 11, 2011) was an American actress, model, and writer who appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs over four decades. A Hollywood glamour girl in the early p ...

as Susan Flanders *

Edward Ashley Edward Montague Hussey Cooper (August 12, 1906 – May 5, 2000) was an Australian born actor, later active in Britain and the United States. Known by his professional name of Edward Ashley (to avoid confusion with a fellow actor Edward Cooper) ...

as Keith Vincent *

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no p ...

as Police Lt. Halberson *

Mabel Paige Mabel Paige (December 19, 1880 – February 9, 1954) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Paige began acting at age four, when she appeared in ''Van, the Virginian''. Career When she was 11 years old, Paige began acting ...

as Mrs. Warne *

Bern Hoffman Benjamin Bernard Hoffman (February 17, 1913 – December 15, 1979) was an American film, television and theatre actor. He was perhaps best known for playing "Earthquake McGoon" in ''Li'l Abner'', both in the Broadway play and in the 1959 film. ...

as Erik Torp *

Queenie Smith Queenie Smith (September 8, 1898 – August 5, 1978) was an American stage, television, and film actress. Life and career Smith was born in Texas. Her family moved from Texas to New York shortly before Smith began studying at the Metropol ...

as Queenie, Nora's Roommate *

Virginia Keiley Virginia Keiley (1918–1990) was a British actress. She began her career at Gainsborough Pictures appearing in a number of glamorous but small, sometimes uncredited roles in the studio's comedies and melodramas. After the Second World War she gr ...

as Lotus Evans, Model *

Mack Gray Mack Gray (December 11, 1905, Brooklyn, New York – January 17, 1981, Beverly Hills, California) was an American actor who was the brother of Joe Gray (actor) and great-uncle of Jon Abrahams. He was given the nickname "Killer" by Carole Lomba ...

as Gratz *

Lilian Bond Lilian Bond (January 18, 1908 – January 25, 1991) was an English-American actress based in the United States. Life and career Bond was born in London and made her first professional stage appearance at the age of 14 in the pantomime ''Dic ...

(1946) as Mrs. Billings *

Rudy Robles Rudy Robles (born Pastor Lluviosa Robles, 29 April 1910 – 11 August 1970) was a Filipino film and television actor. He was one of the first Filipino actors to appear in Hollywood movies. Career Robles was born in Tacloban, in the Eastern ...

as Eujemio *

Greta Granstedt Greta Granstedt (born Irene Louise Granstedt; July 13, 1907 – October 7, 1987) was an American film and television actress. Early life Irene "Greta" Granstedt was the second child of Theodore and Emma Granstedt, born in Scandia, Kansas. ...

as Clara *

Carol Forman Carol Forman (19 June 1919, Epes, Alabama – 9 July 1997, Burbank, California) was an American actress best known for playing exotic villains in action serials, particularly Spider Lady in the 1948 Superman serial, as well as Sombra, the ...

as Receptionist *

William Challee William John Challee (April 6, 1904 – March 11, 1989) was an American actor. Biography Challee was born in Chicago and was a student at Lake View High School. Challee appeared on Broadway by 1926 and by 1931 in early Group Theatre produc ...

as Police Photographer

Production

George Raft and Edward Marin had just made ''

Johnny Angel ''Johnny Angel'' is a 1945 American film noir directed by Edwin L. Marin and written by Steve Fisher (adapted by Frank Gruber) from the 1944 novel ''Mr. Angel Comes Aboard'' by Charles Gordon Booth. The movie stars George Raft, Claire Trevor a ...

'' together from RKO which proved popular. Raft's and Marin's involvement in ''Nocturne'' was announced in September 1945. (In between ''Johnny Angel'' and ''Nocturne'', Raft and Marin made ''

Mr. Ace ''Mr. Ace'' is a 1946 American film noir starring George Raft and Sylvia Sidney involving a society woman who taps a gangster for his political support as she runs for Congress. The movie was written by Fred F. Finkelhoffe, directed by Edwin ...

'' for

Benedict Bogeaus Benedict Bogeaus (May 4, 1904, in Chicago – August 23, 1968, in Hollywood), was an independent film producer and former owner of General Service Studios. Biography and filmography Bogeaus' business career started when he was seventeen, workin ...

.) Joan Harrison was signed by RKO to produce the film in October.

Joseph Pevney Joseph Pevney (September 15, 1911 – May 18, 2008) was an American film and television director.

was brought out from Broadway to play a supporting role.

Jane Greer Jane Greer (born Bettejane Greer; September 9, 1924 – August 24, 2001) was an American film and television actress best known for her role as ''femme fatale'' Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir ''Out of the Past''. In 2009, ''The Guardian'' n ...

was up for the female lead but George Raft went for the better-known Lynn Bari.Everett Aaker, ''The Films of George Raft'', McFarland & Company, 2013 p 124. Bari was borrowed from

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. Filming started in May 1946. Raft reportedly did some rewriting of the script to make his character more sympathetic.

Reception

Box office

The film was popular on release and recorded a profit of $568,000.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p216.

Critical reception

When the film was released, the staff at ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine wrote, "''Nocturne'' is a detective thriller with action and suspense plentiful and hard-bitten mood of story sustained by Edwin L. Marin's direction." "Moments of suspense and excitement... are rare", wrote the ''New York Times''. The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "a skillfully worked out murder melodrama."

References

External links

* * * *
Review of film
at Variety * {{Edwin L. Marin 1946 films American mystery films 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films Film noir American police detective films Films directed by Edwin L. Marin Films scored by Leigh Harline 1946 mystery films 1940s American films