***SPOILERS*** Humphrey Bogart as big time gambler and cheesecake lover,that's the pastry not the sexy women kind, Gloves Donahue uncovers a Nazi spy ring ring in Manhattans Yorkville section and with the help of his somewhat shady or mobbed up friends goes to put it out of business. Bogie or Gloves first got an inkling of what's was happening when his good friend and bakery owner German/American Mr.Miller, Ludwig Stossel, was found dead in his bakery with a broken neck. Mr. Miller has been working with the Nazi ring only because he has family back in Nazi Germany who's lives were endangered if he did't. It's when Mr. Miller's Nazi contact Pepi, Peter Lorrie, wanted him to go a step farther, in killing US sailors, that he refused which cost him his life! Despite Gloves efforts to alert the police to what's going on he in fact becomes their #1 suspect, in Pepi planting one of Gloves' gloves at the murder scene, in Mr. Miller's murder!As things turn out it's nightclub singer Leda Hamilton, Kaaren Verne, who also works for the Nazi spy and sabotage ring who helps Gloves out in that she finds out that her German born father who was being head hostage by the Nazis in Germany's notorious Dachau concentration camp was murdered by them. As Gloves and his friend and fellow mobster Sunsine, William Dmarest, find out from the head of the spy ring himself Ebbing, Conred Veidt, the big plan is to knock out a US Navy battleship docked in Brooklyn's Gravesend Bay. And the plan to do it is by using a motorboat loaded with high explosives with Ebbing and his fellow Nazi Pepi smashing into it, kamikaze style, at full breakneck speed blasting the ship to kingdom come! With Gloves on his own and wanted by the police he has to rely on his fellow mobsters to get the job, in stopping the motorboat attack, done all by themselves. And with time running out it would take next to a miracle for that to happen. But with Gloves Leda and the boys going into action that miracle can very well be achieved!Released on December 2, 1941 just five days before the Japansese attack on Pearl Harbor and nine days after German Furher Adolph Hitler's Declaration of War against the US the movie "All Through the Night's" release couldn't have been more timely! Even though when it was released at a time when the US & Nazi German as well as Imperial Japan were technically still at peace with each other! Even more ironic was the planned attack by Nazi fanatic Ebbing on a US Navy battleship which was eerily reminiscent of the Al-Qeada attack on the US Navy warship USS Cole sixty years later on October 12, 2000 in the Bay of Yemen on the Red Sea. Did the Al-Qeada terrorist organization get their idea to do in the USS Cole by watching the film "All Through the Night" that may have inspire them to do it?

Even for the supercharged, ultra-patriotic atmosphere of WWII this film had to have been an embarrassment to all concerned. It's hard to believe Bogart was in it this far into his career. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be, a spy-caper, a spy-spoof, a mixture? Everyone comes off bad, especially the cops who in their utter incompetence actually help the spies. These last ones come off a bit better but one is left wondering how they managed to recruit such a sizable stable of agents. As for the good guys, Bogart's gang, they're not much better, relying on unfounded guesswork, Ma's hunches, and blind luck to thwart the bad guys. And speaking of Bogart, what exactly was he? He's described as a promoter but of what we're never told. He seems to gamble a lot and has a large retinue but what's his racket? And how come none of them were drafted? This one would be a total bust were it not for Jackie Gleason as one of Bogart's henchmen, Judith Anderson in a reliably evil role, Frank McHugh who's always a hoot, and the lovely Kaaren Verne who we don't see enough.

With it's combination of various genres (Runyonese gangsters,comedy,spy drama,mystery,thriller,Nazi villains,wartime propaganda),ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT could've been an unwieldy and confusing melange of styles;that it is not is a tribute to it's behind the scenes crew (splendidly led by Vincent Sherman) and wonderful cast,with arguably Hollywood's most imperishable star,Humphrey Bogart,at it's epicentre.Genial gangster Gloves Donahue (Bogart) probes into the killing of a friend, Miller (Ludwig Stossel),a baker whose cheesecake Gloves has been eating for years.His investigations lead him onto a nightclub singer (Kaaren Verne) who reveals that like Miller she's under the whim of an organisation of Nazi fifth columnists,led by the urbane but sinister Ebbing (Conrad Veidt).Gloves himself is under suspicion of murder,and exposing the Nazis involved intent on sabotage is the only way to prove his innocence.ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is a scandalously underrated effort in the Humphrey Bogart catalogue.Perhaps the fact that the story involved is played for laughs rather than grim drama has led critics in the past to feel the tone was overly facetious and jokey,lacking the greater sophistication of the immortal CASABLANCA for example.It is very true on the last point,but overall as a piece of all-round entertainment,this film is very hard to beat.This is a quintessential Hollywood studio product of the early 1940's;Warner Bros'studio back-lots glistening with rain,fog and atmosphere,dark corners,warehouses,swanky nightclubs and docklands,breathlessly unpretentious direction by Vincent Sherman,a witty,exciting,fast-moving script that covers up the implausibilities of the plot,and a quite extraordinary cast of outstanding character actors,such as William Demarest,Peter Lorre,Judith Anderson,Edward Brophy,Barton MacLane,Jane Darwell,Phil Silvers,Jackie Gleason,James Burke and Wallace Ford.The very appealing ingredients above combined make this an irresistibly entertaining brew.There are several minor flaws;Frank McHugh is a little over-strident as a newly-attached bridegroom;Sam MacDaniel's brief role shows that Hollywood still had a long way to go before conquering it's crude Negro stereotyping,and Kaaren Verne is rather colourless and ineffectual as the main female lead.Bogart himself was not always completely assured when just playing straight comedy,yet he still handles it with his usual style and charisma,and works very well in tandem with the ever reliable Demarest and others with the Runyonese-style dialogue and situations.Bogie remember was still in the very early stages of his new-found stardom after years playing a variety of unpleasant hoodlums and gangsters,and he would reunite with Veidt and Lorre soon afterwards in perhaps the most beloved Hollywood production of them all,CASABLANCA.There is a rousing,exciting finale when various friends and cronies of Bogart battle it out with the Nazi villains in their secret headquarters,though this is slightly off-put by a dockland-based sequence involving Bogart and Veidt which goes somewhat over the top and is afflicted by unconvincing model work.Nevertheless,ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT is a hugely enjoyable and entertaining example of wartime Hollywood,when talent,professionalism and actors could paper over the cracks of a story which was often dubious and lacking in credibility.What a shame there are very few indeed in this day and age who can come nowhere near such admirable qualities.RATING:8 out of 10.

Investigating the murder of his cheesecake supplier, a sports promoter uncovers a Nazi spy ring in this tongue-in-cheek film that had the misfortune of being released the week of the Pearl Harbor bombing, when America was in no mood for a light-hearted movie about the Nazis. The film is quite amusing, thanks to the witty dialog and fast pace. Bogart is cool and playful as a shady character named "Gloves," and Demarest and McHugh provide most of the laughs as his sidekicks. Veidt, Lorre, and Anderson are appropriately vile as the Nazis. Of course Bogart, Veidt, and Lorre would reunite the following year for "Casablanca." Some of the scenes foreshadow "North by Northwest."