A Clash of Passion - Barbara Stanwyck in "Clash by Night"

The Girl With the White Parasol blog is hosting a Barbara Stanwyck blogathon and nearly fifty bloggers have contributed posts about Ms. Stanwyck's films and her career. A testament to her continuing popularity. Barbara Stanwyck is a wonderful actress and my family and I enjoy watching her films whenever we can. One of my favorite films starring Miss Stanwyck is Fritz Lang's 1952 drama "Clash by Night". It is this film that I have chosen to highlight for the blogathon. 

Based on a 1941 play written by the great playwright/screenwriter Clifford Odets, the title was derived from an 1851 poem by Matthew Arnold entitled "Dover Beach" to describe a place "...where ignorant armies clash by night."

Miss Stanwyck plays Mae Doyle, a bitter, lonely woman who returns to her childhood home in Monterey, California after a ten year absence.

PEGGY: "I'm real glad you came back home Mae...Are you?"

MAE: "Am I what?"

PEGGY: "Glad you're home?"

MAE: "Home is where you come when you run out of places". ( Then Mae dumps her cigarette into her coffee cup. )

Within a short time, Mae finds herself torn between two men: Jerry, a kind-hearted fisherman ( played by Paul Douglas ) and Earl ( Robert Ryan ), a married man who works at the local cinema.

MAE: "You don't like women, do you?"

EARL: "Take any six of 'em, my wife included, and throw 'em up in the air. The one that sticks to the ceiling, I like....Here's to Jeremiah, whose heart's in the right place".

JERRY: "I can't drink to myself Earl".

EARL: "Well, let's drink to me. My heart's in the wrong place."

Mae and Earl are similar in nature and they are attracted to each other. You can feel the fiery passion burning between them whenever they are together.

EARL: "Jerry's the salt of the Earth but he's not the right seasoning for you."

MAE: "What kind of seasoning do I need?"

EARL: "You're like me. A dash of Tabasco and the meat tastes flat."

Though this may be the case, Mae marries Jerry and their wedding is a wonderful day to remember with great merriment, friendship and good food! My favorite quote at the wedding was said by Jerry's father:

JERRY'S FATHER: God...he made enough fish for everybody, vero?

WEDDING GUESTS: Si!

JERRY'S FATHER: And he made enough wine for everybody, vero?

WEDDING GUESTS: Si!

JERRY'S GUESTS: And he made enough love for everybody, eh? So fish, wine, love for everybody...Salut!

Within one year's time, Jerry and Mae welcome an adorable baby daughter and Earl obtains a divorce from his estranged wife. Though Mae has tried to be a good wife and mother, deep down she had a yearning for a man full of passion and adventure, qualities embodied by Earl. Despite her outward distaste for Earl, inwardly she finds herself strangely drawn towards him. She tries to control her feelings but, unfortunately, she fails and she and Earl embark on an affair.

Before long, Jerry finds out about his wife's affair and he is, understandably, devastated. The lives of three people hang in the balance: Will Mae take her daughter and leave Jerry and run away with Earl? Or will she decide to stay and make a new and better life with Jerry?

Barbara Stanwyck gives a superb performance as Mae by bringing deep emotions to the character. Mae is a lost soul. She doesn't know who she really is or what she really wants in life. At times, she can appear serene on the surface but a great storm is raging on deep down inside of her just waiting to come out. Mae is afraid of responsibility and she is constantly trying to run away from it. She is a selfish woman but it is not until her relationship with Earl becomes complicated that she realizes that her needs cannot always come first. There are other people, who are very dear to Mae, that she must now consider.

Joan Crawford was lined up to play Mae in the film version and I wonder what the film would have been like with her in the part, but I am very glad that Barbara Stanwyck made this part her own. She brings life to Clifford Odets's engrossing play and I consider it one of her finest film performances. 

"Clash by Night" features captivating performances by Barbara, Paul Douglas and Robert Ryan. A young and charming Marilyn Monroe is wonderful as Mae's friend Peggy. This was the first time in Marilyn's film career that her name appeared before the title in the credits. Keith Andes is well-cast as Mae's tough younger brother Joe.

Clifford Odets is a masterful writer having written such highly-acclaimed plays like: "Golden Boy", "The Big Knife" and "The Country Girl" among others. "Clash by Night" had 49 performances at the Belasco Theater in New York City from late 1941 until early 1942 with a star-studded cast which included: Tallulah Bankhead and Lee J. Cobb as Mae and Jerry Wilenski; Robert Ryan as Mae's brother Joe; Joseph Schildkraut as Earl Pfeiffer; and Seth Arnold and Ralph Chambers.

Screenplay writer Alfred Hayes helped bring Mr. Odets's play to the screen with great skill. It is filled with clever snappy dialogue. Some phrases hurt while others are smart and honest. Each character is able to say so much using a few well chosen words.

Fritz Lang is a highly-respected director of the silent era ( like 1927's "Metropolis")  and he is famous for such noir film classics like: "Ministry of Fear" ( 1944 ), "The Blue Gardenia" ( 1953 ) and "The Big Heat" ( 1953 ). In "Clash by Night", he captures the lives of three individuals caught in a love triangle which brings pain to all parties concerned. It was always Mr. Lang's goal to be able to visually tell a rich story on the silver screen. As he once told director/screenwriter Peter Bogdanovich, if he could watch his film with the sound turned off and be able to make sense of what was taking place onscreen, then he knew he had done a good job and Mr. Lang does that splendidly in "Clash by Night"! One need not listen to the sound to understand what the characters are going through in this tension-filled drama.


When the film was released in American movie theaters in June 1952, critics were not impressed by the picture but most agreed that Barbara Stanwyck did a fabulous job tackling the role of the emotionally-wrought Mae Doyle.

I like "Clash by Night" because it makes me sad, it makes me laugh and it makes me want to analyze my own life. What are my priorities in life? Am I doing my duty? Could I put aside my selfishness in order to make a better life for my loved ones?

"Clash by Night" teaches us about life's priorities and how important it is to push aside fear and face responsibility the best way we can. Maybe we'll never be perfect at it, but it is important that we give it our best effort.

Written by Diana Metzinger

Barbara Stanwyck in "Annie Oakley" ( 1935 )

"Barbara Stanwyck is splendid in the role of Annie Oakley; this is indeed her most striking performance in a long time" 

Andre Sennwald, a New York Times reporter, stated the above shortly after seeing the premiere of Annie Oakley in December 1935 and there is no denying just how right he is. 

Annie Oakley is a rootin-tootin' grand picture that tells the ( albeit a bit fictional ) story of the sharp-shootin' pixie from the backwoods of Ohio - "Little Miss Sureshot" Annie Oakley, and Barbara Stanwyck is larger than life in her portrayal of the legendary star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. 

Stanwyck, the tough-talking no-nonsense dame who sprang from the Bronx, was just beginning to find a footing in Hollywood in the mid-1930s. Warner Brothers studios was dishing her disappointing film projects and so she decided to take matters into her own hands and venture out as an independent player. Annie Oakley was her first feature with RKO studios and it gave her a hearty push into stardom. By 1939, she had an Oscar nomination under her belt ( for Stella Dallas ) and was raking in a hundred thousand dollars a year as salary. Miss Stanwyck had made herself a home in the limelight and would remain a shining star in the Hollywood galaxy until her dying day...and rightly so. As she proves in Annie Oakley, Barbara Stanwyck was able to take on any portrayal and truly make you believe she was the character you saw onscreen. 

The film begins with the famous match between Miss Oakley and Frank Butler, who has his name ( and character ) changed to Toby Walker for the film. The rather conceited Toby Walker, the top marksman in the country, has been recently signed to Buffalo Bill's touring Wild West extravaganza and while staying over one night at McLeod's hotel in Cincinnati he makes a bet with McLeod that he can beat any marksman in that "hick" town. McLeod pits him against Annie Oakley, the little lady who provides him with the quail for his diners...quail that are always free of buckshot, unlike the game other hunters provide him with. 

Annie, so sure of her shooting talent, puts her own money up for the bet as well as some that the townsfolk contributed from back home. When the time comes for the match however, she doesn't have the heart to beat Walker at his own game. Mainly because she thinks Toby Walker is the gosh darn prettiest fella she ever laid eyes on!

Annie's ability does not go unnoticed by Buffalo Bill's agent Jeff Hogarth ( Melvyn Douglas ) who hires her for the show regardless of her throwing the match. And then it's off to New York and all across America showcasing the marksmanship and brilliant riding skills of the cowboys and frontiersmen of the Wild West, all for the price of one dollar. 

At first, Toby Walker and Annie Oakley are rivals, but his heart of gold shines clear and bright to Annie and she falls for him hard. He teaches her tips on showmanship and they court behind the tepees all the while keeping up a front that they despise each other for publicity purposes. Preston Foster is charming as Toby Walker and they really do seem the ideal match.  

Annie Oakley boasts a chuck-wagon full of character actors such as silent comedian Andy Clyde as the cheap Scotsman, MacLeod, a superb Moroni Olson as Buffalo Bill, Pert Kelton as Toby's old flame, and small parts for Dick Elliott and Willie Best. Pert Kelton later went on to portray the first "Alice Kramden" in the original Honeymooners skits from The Jackie Gleason Show. 

Chief Thunderhead also shines as Sitting Bull, the ruler of the Souix tribe who fought against Custer in 1876. Here he grunts disapprovingly of the wild west heroics displayed by the men of the Buffalo Bill show and refuses to take a part in the public display....until Annie Oakley takes the stage, then he heartily adopts her as Little Miss Sureshot and joins the "the big happy group".

This was George Steven's first foray into the western genre and he marked this film with his signature stamp of excellence. The film wraps adventure with romance and comedy all in one briskly paced 90 minute package of entertainment, even if it does lack historical accuracy. Later, in the 1950s, Stevens would make the western genre his niche, directing such iconic films as Shane ( 1953 ) and Giant ( 1956 ). Barbara Stanwyck was another loyal cowboy; when asked what kind of film she enjoyed making most, her reply would inevitably be "westerns". 

In real life, Annie Oakley and Barbara Stanwyck were not unlike each other. Annie Oakley was a small-town gal who used her talent of marksmanship to catapult herself into international stardom. In a time when few women were celebrities she became a role model for other women, while Barbara Stanwyck was a "Little Miss Sureshot" in her own right : she aimed high at becoming a great actress in her time and she hit the bullseye dead center. Always a fighter, she embodied Annie Oakley's spirit of rugged determination and confidence in one's own abilities, as can be seen in this film. 

This post is our contribution to the Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon, a stupendous collection of reviews of each of Barbara Stanwyck's films from nearly 50 different bloggers, hosted by none other than Aubyn Eli, better known as The Girl with the White Parasol.  Be sure to check out all of the participants posts on the films of our favorite leading lady, Barbara Stanwyck.