Clash By Night

Tough dame Mae Doyle (a wonderfully cynical Barbara Stanwyck) returns home to her dreary sardine-canning town, where she has the option of a sweet, simple fisherman (Paul Douglas) or a tormented, violence-prone movie projectionist (an explosive Robert Ryan). Whom does she choose? You guessed it. Director Fritz Lang's dark adaptation of Clifford Odets' heavy-breathing love triangle Clash By Night features weighty symbolism and hard-bitten dialogue. And as lovebirds with a taste for mild sadomasochism, Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes bulge through their duds provocatively. This black-and-white beauty remains grown-up after all these years. B+