- All Through the Night is a goofy, but mostly entertaining, amalgam of mobsters, comedy, Nazis, and propaganda. It starts off primarily in the style of a classic noir, as the conspicuously villainous Pepi (Peter Lorre) guns down a local baker. This deprives the neighborhood's favorite mobster, "Gloves" Donahue (Humphrey Bogart), of his thrice-daily serving of cheesecake and, more importantly, convinces him (or rather his busybody mother, played by Jane Darwell) to launch a private investigation into the killing. Though they have no real leads, they do have the mysterious Leda (Kaaren Verne), a singer who wanders into the bakery just after the murder. Strange that she should ask to see the baker on personal business just after his death, but even more strange that Pepi plays the piano at the same nightclub where Leda performs.
- Although it doesn't take long for Gloves to run afoul of the nightclub's owner, a fellow mobster named Callahan (Barton MacLane), a stray corpse soon adds the police to the list of Gloves' pursuers. Desperate, Gloves tracks Leda to an auction house run by two rather imposing Teutons, Ebbing (Conrad Veidt) and "Madame" (Judith Anderson). If you're even remotely familiar with the latter part of Conrad Veidt's acting career, you can probably guess what his presence in the film means. If not, Gloves and company helpfully uncover a warehouse that has portraits of Hitler pasted all over the walls. That's right, boys, it's a Nazi conspiracy. To borrow a phrase from Gloves, "it's about time someone knocked those heels back on their Axis."
- It's at this point that the already teetering film goes completely off the rails. Any semblance of noir sensibility, or any other kind of sensibility for that matter, is supplanted by the cartoon antics of Gangsters vs. Nazis. Callahan and Gloves put their differences behind them and team up because, as Gloves explains, "those (Nazi) babies are strictly no good from way down deep." Soon, Gloves and company are clubbing Nazis over the head with wine bottles and painting Victory signs on their backs. It's a shame that things go so far downhill since the film's novel concept, stellar cast (I didn't even mention Jackie Gleason or Wallace Ford), and rat-tat-tat dialogue are initially quite enjoyable. What's worse, however, is that All Through the Night's dramatic changes in tone reminded me of Shoot the Piano Player. That was a gangster movie with a lot of variety, too, but it was also a much better film.
- There was a key plot point that involved "fifth columnists". That seems like a really obscure reference now.
