Amnesia has its advantages. All of a sudden that little black book you have is filled with names of new and exciting dames to party with. In our feature today, our protagonist, who may be an antagonist, will meet sultry dames, or femme fatales, who might be favorably inclined to his plight. His plight? Good question...which amnesia will complicate that answer. We have an all-star cast of Film Noir actors and actresses, and the proverbial twists films about amnesiacs seem to have built in. Let us look at 1946's "Somewhere in the Night," directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
George (John Hodiak) wakes up in a hospital in the Pacific. He's a marine and a grenade just messed him up bad. He'll heal, but it will take time...supposedly his amnesia will also. Total amnesia...George has no idea who he is. A letter in his wallet suggests he is an evil man. Keeping his amnesia under wraps, George returns to LA and does some detective work to try to figure out who he is. What he finds out is alarming. There is a bank account he has with a lot of money in it which the cops are surveilling. Now he is trying to find his friend who opened the account for him. Must be a friend because there is a lot of money in it. More clues leads George to a nightclub where the sultry Christy (Nancy Guild) performs. She's hot for him. The club is owned by Mel (Richard Conte) who comes across as too nice and too helpful. Uh oh...people giving George information end up murdered and some fortune teller weirdo, Anzelmo (Fritz Kortner) is just as eager to find this guy who set George up with the bank account.
Dangerous dames abound and George will meet the sultry, maybe a whore, Phyllis (Margo Woode). George sees right through the loose society dame-wannabe. This drives George back to the ever helpful and doting nightclub babe Christy. Christy is tight with Mel, but eventually George will let his guard down with both of them...a mistake? Here comes the wise old Detective Kendall (Lloyd Nolan). He knows much more than he lets on and now he's keeping a close eye on George. More clues lead George into very seedy places like lunatic asylums and the docks on the waterfront where death and mayhem occur. Everyone in this film is waiting for George to find this mysterious friend, but why?
Does Christy really have the hots for George, or is she ready to plug him when he finds the source of his bank account? Is Mel too helpful and does he spell doom for George...and/or Christy? Just what does a two-bit fortune teller have to do with all of this? This is classic Film Noir with dangerous dames, square-jawed hunks, the waterfront at night, and even thugs with guns. See "Somewhere in the Night," and wonder if dangerous dames in little black books are worth one night of fun. Hey, I think we can all agree they beat brute Women's Studies major college femmes.
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